Predatory Sexual Harrassment by Debbie Dougherty - Extra Credit Kaitlyn Francel

I attended the seminar "Predatory Sexual Harassment, The Anaerobic Bacteria of Organizational Life" by Debbie Dougherty. She was a lovely speaker who was full of charm. First, she explained what makes predatory behavior in the workplace. These were her definitions:
-Persistent behavior
-Multiple Targets
-Organizationally supported
-Operates in a field of crafted Science
Then she moved on to outline the legal definition and how that can seem rather ambiguous and thus, the traditional approach lacks specificity. This is how Dougherty was led to create the Cultural Approach to Sexual Harassment.

The Cultural Approach to Sexual Harassment recognizes that sexual harassment is woven into the culture of an organization, and thus it occurs every day and it is normalized. This is highly destructive to organizational culture because it results in a loss of money and employees, but most importantly, it damages their brand and reputation. With all of this in mind, the speaker moved on to ask how we could change what was happening in organizations. We brainstormed using a bubble circle chart and proposed our various solutions. Some of these included increasing awareness of what predatory behavior really is, along with better administrative or executive action.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the interesting points that Dougherty made. She shared a lot of ideas that I had never thought about before. Such as, what really is predatory behavior? How do we react to it? Etc. I think that this seminar was highly beneficial to me because I can now recognize what predatory behavior is and if it is occurring in a situation. I think that awareness is a crucial part of stopping the problem, and I believe that more people need to see seminars like this one so that they are educated on the topic.

Best,
KT

Born on Third Base Ch. 14 - Kaitlyn Francel

Summary of Born on Third Base part V - Ch 14 - Kaitlyn Francel

The author, Chuck Collins, opens this chapter talking about his friend, Edith, that is in her late 40s. He describes an interaction that they have in which Edith is crying because she is living paycheck to paycheck, and there are layoffs occurring in her company. He feels extreme pain for her and delves into the story of how the stock market crash of 2008 affected her and many others. Following this experience, the author goes to church and his eyes are opened to how people are struggling. Many people that he thought were fine, were really missing the cash to do small important tasks, such as transportation to the doctor, or fixing a window. Thus, the church built community groups called Resilience Circles, which are essentially mutual aid support groups. In these groups, people supported each other by aiding in tasks, learning more about the economy together, and creating a social movement. The groups met twice monthly and people came in with their "gifts" and "needs," essentially a list of things that a person could offer to another, and things that the same person needed to ask for. This turned into a beautiful internal social exchange where people exchanged goods or services without the use of money or reliance on larger businesses and companies.

Collins comes to realize that large influencers tell us that we should not rely on one another and that instead, we need to be independent individuals. This encourages and benefits the large economic businesses, but poisons social interaction and networks. The author discovers that by sharing and coexisting with one another, more resources can be utilized at a lower price, which can help many struggling groups of people out tremendously. The author discusses that people often lack the ability to ask others for help when they need it, even though everyone does need help at some point in their life. And these Resilience circles gave people the ability to get used to asking and giving, not as charity, but as a group of interconnected people.

At the end of the chapter, Collins explains that a wealthy couple wanted to donate money to the Resilience Circle, but that the Circle humbly declined. They did so because it just wasn't what they stood for as a group. This again proves that money is not the key to life, it is human interaction and the ability to help one another out in times of need. And that is how Collins wraps up this beautiful chapter, by calling for a strengthening of human interaction and interdependence.