As is so often the case, what women claim they want is for men to be more like them. It's funny how that claim goes out the window when it comes time to choose a sexual partner. Then the whinges start...

On the subject of Ms Fraser-Golddigger, I checked the curent rates of workcover payments for permanent impairment, such as loss of a limb and it seems that is worth $200,000, with that amount reduced if the impairment is not total - for example just a couple of fingers instead of a whole arm.

I would be willing to bet that 99.9% of all claims for such injuries have been made by men, given that men are inevitably the ones doing the hard, dangerous, dirty jobs, while women like Ms Fashion-Victim sit in airconditioned comfort wondering why the boss hasn't been propositioning her lately.

Which limb has Ms Fraser-Coquette lost? What permanent impairment has she suffered? Pay her wages out and tell her to find another job. Perhaps next time she'll simply get on with her work instead of trying to make a name for herself?

On the subject of sexual harassment generally, I can see how persistent unwanted advances could intimidate someone in a very junior position, especially in a private firm, where there may be no one to complain to. On the other hand, there are many examples of successful marriages that have started as workplace chat-ups. My mother was my Dad's secretary, for example; I have had a couple of relationships with women I worked with; my ex has had 2 such relationships since we split. My mum's standard line when talking about her relationship with Dad was "I chased him till he caught me", which I suspect is very accurate for many such situations.

If the advance is unwanted, make it clear - don't play the flirt in the hope of getting an advantage and then pretend it was all his fault. Grow up.

Do men with small bank accounts ever get sued for sexual harassment ?

So women who are sexually harassed are responsible for the harassment. And by Antiseptic's view of the world all women are flirts anyway who deserve what they get. It seems we cannot generalise about male behaviour but it is okay to generalise about women.

I have worked in the public sector and the private sector and only encountered real flirts a handful of times. Most women and men worked professionally together with no incident, but the incidents I am aware of did not involve a flirtatious women who by your view of the world is "asking for it'.

I hate to break it to the men on OLO but sometimes even when a women makes it very clear to a man his advances are not wanted they are ignored.

Bottom line is every man and woman has a right to go to work without being SH on a daily basis or asked to have sex and face potential consequences if he/she does not concede.

I once recruited a young woman who had left her previous job in a rural motel because her boss had an expectation that she would eventually provide sex to the local truckers as part of her role (with a small cut of course). She was visibily upset re-telling of this experience and left straight after without any references. I advised her to leave that job well off her CV - better to explain a short break in work than to go through the explanation of why she left. Further investigation revealed the claims to be true.

No-one should have to put up with that. How would you feel if your wife was to experience constant and unwelcome approaches by a male co-worker especially her boss where he has a power advantage. Would you just say ignore it dear and get on with your work.

It seems that we have to now have SH lectures in the workplace so corporations can 'prove' their obligations in this regard. One might ask why has it come to that - the answer is we let it get to that point.

The argument that women want men to be like them is a furphy. Women and men are different but at work they are equals and should behave to the highest standard of behaviour not the lowest. It is not about wanting men to be 'like' women. Surely your opinion of men is higher than that.

Most men don't sexually harass their co-workers, so I don't really know what the problem is with some posters always defending the minority of men's rights to be barbarians even in the workplace.

Pelican:"So women who are sexually harassed are responsible for the harassment. "

If you say so - I didn't...

I simply pointed out that women are well able to make their views known without having to be able to claim umpty millions in "injury" compensation. The whole thing is overblown and ridiculous. By all means tell someone if the manager is coming on to you and won't take no for an answer, but it's hardly in the same class of injury as an amputation or paraplegia, is it?

I also pointed out that some women seem well-satisfied with having work colleagues become bed colleagues and sometimes even more. As someone else pointed out, the "harassment" claims only come if she doesn't like him. He may well engage in the same behaviour with someone else and all concerned would be thrilled to bits.

Pelican:"It seems we cannot generalise about male behaviour but it is okay to generalise about women."

Oh dear - "Poor me, I'm a victim". I'm not generalising at all, I'm pointing out that some women don't share your view in all cases.

The behaviour of the boss in the motel example is criminal in several ways, the least of which is sexual harasment.

Dear benk,

You ask me to articulate what constitutes
sexual harassment. I thought I'd already
done that, but here goes once again.
And by the way this is not my definition -
its according to the law as it currently
stands in Australia.

Sexual harassment is any unwanted or
unwelcome sexual behaviour in the workplace
...it has nothing
to do with mutual attraction or
consensual behaviour. Sexual harassment is not
sexual interaction, flirtation, attraction or
friendship, which is invited, mutual, consensual
or reciprocated.

Also according to the law - a person who sexually
harasses someone else in the workplace is
responsible for their behaviour.

To make things even clearer the list for what's
considered as sexual harassment covers things
like:

1) Unwelcome touching.
2) Requests for sex.
3) Sending sexually explicit emails or text messages.
4) Indecent exposure.
5) sexual assault.
6) Insults or taunts of a sexual nature.
7) Intrusive questions about somebody's body.
8) Unnecessary familiarity - such as deliberately
brushing up against someone.

And so on.

Both males and females can be victims of sexual harassment.

I hope that clarifys things for you.

Dear Antiseptic,

No one seriously expects Kristy Fraser-Kirk to receive
$37 million from David Jones. However, the amount of
money is not the issue here. Had she asked for anything
less - her case may not have made it to Court. The truth
hopefully will come out in the court-case which is
scheduled to be heard at the end of this month. More women
are making claims against David Jones and its former
Chief Executive Mark McInnes. Sexual harassment should
not be trivialised. We should be concerned about morality
and community standards - and everyone should feel safe in
their place of work and not be forced to put up with
offensive, humiliating or intimidating behviour - males
and females equally. The fact that laws now exist
regarding this matter indicates that this is a serious
problem in the workplace.