Gillette has stepped boldly into the socio-political minefields of #MeToo, bullying, spousal abuse and male self-absorption
It’s tempting to take the recent’s ‘controversy’ over the Gillette shaving company’s new advertising campaign at something less than face value. For starters, controversy itself is no longer the conversational cutting edge it once was. In this era of fake-versus-false news, universal short attention spans and ludicrous overstatement as the entry price for even being…
By only 4% of women and less than 1% of men reported experiencing sexual harassment or unwanted sexual attention
A Statistics Canada report released on Monday says 19 per cent of women and 13 per cent of men aged 15 to 64 reported in 2016 that they experienced at least one type of harassment in the workplace in the previous 12 months. The results in the report titled Harassment in Canadian workplaces were based…
We’re supposed to be standard-bearers for traditional family values in western society. What happened?
When the #MeToo movement began to pick up steam last October, most of the men accused of sexual harassment and/or sexual assault were on the political left. As time goes by, more men on the political right are getting caught in this web, too. In particular, Canada’s right has faced a few recent instances of…
How are emotions mobilized in politics, for whom and by whom? And what normalizes the expression of these emotions?
The fallout from the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, riveted people on both sides of the border and provides ample evidence that feelings can become weaponized in politics to uphold white male privilege. In his blistering, scripted opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh performed the role of…
Wendy Giuffre of Wendy Ellen Inc. talks about new legislation, how to investigate complaints and what constitutes harassment
Wendy Giuffre is president and principal consultant at Wendy Ellen Inc. What can you tell me about workplace harassment and its prevalence today? Is it a growing issue? Giuffre: The actual act of workplace harassment may not be a growing issue, yet the number of reported cases is increasing. Bullying harassment cases have been on…
If we’re to rid the world of this horrendous theft of innocence, we need to approach it the same way we approached the Holocaust
In the song Sympathy for the Devil, the Rolling Stones repeat several times, “Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name. But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.” In essence, the Stones are talking about the nature of evil and our relation to it. We see it but we often don’t…
Melanie Peacock of Double M Training & Consulting talks about the value that HR staff bring to the workplace
Melanie Peacock is sole proprietor of Double M Training & Consulting and is president of the Mount Royal Faculty Association. Calgary’s Business: How has the role of HR departments changed over the years? Peacock: Most people talk about how HR departments have become less administrative and more strategic. I've certainly witnessed this, as HR professionals…
The feminist war against men isn't only against bad men. It’s a war is against all men
It’s become a regular experience in Canada and the United States for a man to be accused of sexual misconduct and for an almost immediate pile-on of haters adding every accusation the mind can imagine. Contemporary feminists have done a brilliant job in their war against men. Unsubstantiated accusations are treated as proven guilt. Due…
Allegations of a groping incident 18 years ago won't go away. The prime minister needs to be more definitive in his response
Is Justin Trudeau telling the truth about an alleged groping incident with a female reporter 18 years ago, or is the prime minister lying through his teeth? Yes, that’s a harsh way of laying it out. But there’s no point in sugarcoating this unusual story any longer, as some media organizations were doing up until…
A new survey says people are looking at journalism with new respect in these troubled times
It’s true. The 2018 survey by Cision of 1,355 journalists from across six countries discovered that perceived trust in professional journalists improved by 20 per cent this year. Cision is a global provider of media software. Yes, sadly, journalists felt underappreciated by 91 per cent of the general public up until last year. And fake…
It’s tempting to take the recent’s ‘controversy’ over the Gillette shaving company’s new advertising campaign at something less than face value. For starters, controversy itself is no longer the conversational cutting edge it once was. In this era of fake-versus-false news, universal short attention spans and ludicrous overstatement as the entry price for even being…
