The National Science Foundation, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program, published a report in 2022 in which 59% of women said they’d experienced harassment or assault while on the ice, and 72% of women said such behavior was a problem in Antarctica.

But the problem goes beyond the harassment, The Associated Press found. In reviewing court records and internal communications, and in interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, the AP uncovered a pattern of women who said their claims of harassment or assault were minimized by their employers, often leading to them or others being put in further danger.

    • @SevFTW@feddit.de
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      10810 months ago

      “Men will be men” just excuses the behaviour and ostracizes men who don’t do these things. It has less to do with their sex and more to do with how we raise men.

      Toxic masculinity as a defence mechanism of patriarchal society is the main problem and “feminine”, “emotional” or “weak” men, or those not subscribing to heteronormative sexuality are targeted by the same types to uphold their status.

      • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
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        1210 months ago

        Yup. It boils down to power imbalances that are systemic in a world where men still control almost everything.

        I had always hoped we’d move past this but it seems we may not get the chance now (with climate change raging around us).

          • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
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            -110 months ago

            Ofc it’s not all men, but it’s enough men that make everyone’s lives harder. So instead of arguing “not all” maybe focus on the some that are the cause of the problem.

            • Nate Cox
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              1010 months ago

              I feel like the primary complaint here is that the parent commenters very much want to focus on the some that are the cause of the problem, rather than simply stating that men are problematic.

              • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
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                -610 months ago

                Yup. If men as a group policed their own there would be a change. But as it stands they don’t seem to want to do that all the time because it’s easier to just let the bad ones slide through.

                • @Mardukas@lemmy.world
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                  410 months ago

                  What’s there to police? It’s not like most aggressors are openly grabbing people in their genitals for all to see. These people know that they are wrong and so they hide it. What am I, as a man against this behaviour, supposed to do about other men?

                  • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
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                    10 months ago

                    When you hear men joke about what women they’re gonna try to f’k, let them know how shitty that is.

                    When you hear men make sexist jokes, let them know how shitty that is.

                    When you hear men talk about their wives as somehow less than, let them know how shitty that is.

                    And if you ever think any of those things in your own mind, remind yourself how shitty that is.

                • @CorruptBuddha@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  10 months ago

                  If men as a group policed their own there would be a change.

                  This is actually a great idea! To make things simple perhaps we can give these policing men like… some form of identification, like a badge or a uniform so people know who to trust. This is the game changer we needed.

                  • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
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                    010 months ago

                    I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean in this context.

                    Are you saying that since these were co-workers and not family members that means the woman is lying?

      • @Nythos@sh.itjust.works
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        410 months ago

        Men will be men is for where men do stupid shit like attach a motor to a merry-go-round and see who can sit on it for the longest or dig holes at the beach because hole.

        It’s sad and sickening to see it be used to try and excuse sexual harassment and assault.

      • @uis@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        are targeted by the same types to uphold their status.

        Or sometimes targeted by their mothers. At least this happened to me. I had one long fingernail(on middle finger, you guessed why) and my mother complauned about it almost every day to the point where she came to dad and complained to him. He said “why do you even care?”, but she continued anyway saying “this is not how men do”.

        This happened in post-Soviet society where average family with children is mother+grandmother, so it has nothing to do with “patriarchality” of society. I think it is just manifestation of much broader problems: virtual majority and I can’t translate it, but basicaly “you should do it this way because I said so”.

    • El Barto
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      5510 months ago

      Bro. I’m a man. I have hormones. I also know how to control them.

      “Men will be men” is an unfair generalization.

    • Quaternions
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      3110 months ago

      I really hate the “men will be men” argument. Real men don’t rape or sexually harass people.

    • xuxebiko
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      10 months ago

      men will apparently just be men.

      this thinking removes the sexual harasser’s & rapist’s responsibility for their crimes and moves it to their gender/DNA.

      When criminal conduct is enabled, crime will escalate.

      • DessertStorms
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        10 months ago

        And saying not all men gives every man an excuse in their mind as to why they don’t need to do anything about the problem with their peers.

        • xuxebiko
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          -810 months ago

          Yes! It absolves men of their responsibility to make their society/community safe and it ensures that if they become a problem then other men will not stop them.