Days after board members laughed at the exchange, the Washington County Board of Education called the comments “shocking,” saying “no explanation can justify that.”
People also laugh when they are uncomfortable and don’t know what else to do. Obviously we’d rather see objections than nervous tittering, but I wouldn’t always take laughter as active complicity / celebration.
I was being over the top with the complicity mostly out if anger at the situation. I understand that people respond poorly in stressful situations but we need to start getting better at it.
Yeah I agree with all of that. Part of what was in my mind is that I would perceive a man laughing as very different than a woman laughing. I assume that all women live under potential sexual threat from men at all times, and laughing at an advance is a way to defuse it without getting confrontational. “Haha surely you jest” is actually a deflection, even if it isn’t a head on confrontation. I’m a man and I don’t fear direct confrontations, but I understand women don’t have the same privilege as I do in this regard.
People also laugh when they are uncomfortable and don’t know what else to do. Obviously we’d rather see objections than nervous tittering, but I wouldn’t always take laughter as active complicity / celebration.
I was being over the top with the complicity mostly out if anger at the situation. I understand that people respond poorly in stressful situations but we need to start getting better at it.
This was a time I think it mattered to speak up.
Yeah I agree with all of that. Part of what was in my mind is that I would perceive a man laughing as very different than a woman laughing. I assume that all women live under potential sexual threat from men at all times, and laughing at an advance is a way to defuse it without getting confrontational. “Haha surely you jest” is actually a deflection, even if it isn’t a head on confrontation. I’m a man and I don’t fear direct confrontations, but I understand women don’t have the same privilege as I do in this regard.