Is tickling "Sexual Harassment?"

[amk714]

The bottom line here I think is know your environment. I worked in a call center where people tickled each other practically everyday, all the time. My own manager talked two girls into giving each other the figure four leg lock and watched as the two girls tickled each other's feet. The job was pretty stressful, and as long as the people were receptive to the antogonist (tickler), and the work was being accomplished, nothing was ever said. Fun job 😉

So is tickling allowed in call centers, or was it all right because your manager was a ticklephile? I suddenly want to work in one. 😀

 

[Ticklish_Cop]

In this crazy litigious society of ours, anything can be sexual harassment. A man telling a woman that she looks nice in that dress can be sexual harassment if she takes offense to it. I know a supervisor in my old office who had a complaint made against him because he walked into the office and said, "Good morning, girls." One of the secretaries felt, "I'm not his girl. I don't need to take that." She filed a sexual harassment complaint. The supervisor was admonished to watch his comments.

It's my opinion, that you should not engage in any playful activity (especially touching) with people at work....if you like your job. If you don't care if you get fired, then go ahead.

 

[Litha]

One theory on the matter...

I think you have to read the person very carefully and understand whether or not your relationship with them allows for this kind of touch. Some people try to be polite even when a person makes them uncomfortable, and they might not make their feelings clear verbally. Watch body language, and if you have the willpower (which I would hope), wait until they do something tactile to you first. If she tickles you, then I guess it's not a big deal to return the favor, provided it is brief and not intense. I'm a quiet person myself and I try not to offend people. Several times I've worked with or around people who were playful types, some of them of the creepy variety. When they would torment me, I had to pretend to think it was amusing because I was at work and there were people around. When you work with the public or even with certain types of employers, you have to put on a hospitable, professional attitude. Getting snappy and saying "Don't touch me" could not only tick off the boss and co-worker, it could egg on or make an enemy of the person doing the touching. If someone was consistently trying to touch me, I would start to wonder about them, and perhaps would feel safer telling the boss than I would confronting the person. I'm not implying this was the case here, but it might be one reason why people tell someone they trust ahead of the person they feel assaulted by.

 

[Eternal Tomboy]

I think that two factors play into this topic: 1. Are you more than co-workers with the person you are tickling? Do you consider them a friend? Do you hang out outside of work? Do you have more of a casual relationship with them rather than a professional one? If the answer to most of these questions is 'yes' than I don't think a few quick tickles should be a problem 2. Is your work environment totally professional (law office) or casual (McDonalds)? I worked at a bookstore for a few years and the atmosphere was totally casual. It wasn't looked upon as odd behavior to tickle, rough house, give a playful pat on the ass, or use sexual innuendos more than an episode of "Three's Company". Everyone was friends with each other, and we used to go out for beeers after work on a fairly regular basis. God I loved that job! lol.

I think it all comes down to common sense. But if you don't put much faith in your common sense, then another good rule to follow is don't tickle unless you're tickled first.


Maggie

 

[Redmage]

I think you have to read the person very carefully and understand whether or not your relationship with them allows for this kind of touch.

The main problem here is that it's not just the person you're tickling that you have to be aware of. Sexual harassment can be charged by people who aren't involved in the contact at all, but who simply don't like having it around them.

 

[ViperGTS]

If only we could get people to relax and loosen up...lol

 

[steph]

Yep, I'm kind of with Maggie here~my co-workers "get me" all the time these days, but it's way brief, like 2 seconds. There's no inappropriate touching of private parts, no prolonged anything. Just affectional jab here and there from people I've known for years. A stranger now? "Houston we have a problem..."
XOXO

 

[Litha]

lol Redmage, I never thought of that, but I guess the harassment laws would cover those who had to witness the tickling. I think that's going a little far, but I guess that's how laws these days are constructed.

 

[Redmage]

lol Redmage, I never thought of that, but I guess the harassment laws would cover those who had to witness the tickling. I think that's going a little far, but I guess that's how laws these days are constructed.

It is. The idea is that sexual harrassment consists of a "hostile work environment" as a result of something sexual. That means that it just has to be something that people nearby find unpleasant, not anything directed at them personally.

The classic example is a calendar featuring nude women posted in an office or workshop. But any sort of sexual or quasi-sexual contact that people witness would be considered the same sort of thing.

 

[Deuce]

Well I think it all boils down too common respect and curistiy, if I have a calendar with nude's on it I need to look at myself and ask do I need that calendar to do the job I was hired to do, if so can I put it in a place that no one but me would see it. I think in a tickling site like this most people are going to think tickling is ok but lets look at it from this point if there is a fetish you don't understand would it upset you if someone looked or did there fetish to your wife- girlfriend/boyfriend or loved one. I noticed that if you give the average person an iche they will take a yard and in saying that you can see why this is a hot topic. Now I know that there are a lot of people on here that understand no means no and no one person is above that, just ask any women who goes in the chatroom the rules state you must ask before senting a pc but some don't think that applies to them and they ruin it for all. Now I tickled numerous females in the past and yes at times stimulated me but I ask myself is my friendship with that person more important then the feeling I have at the moment and I hope I will always put my friendships over any feelings I have at the moment to save a friendship for ever