A PSA for Everyone Who Still Doesn’t Get How NOT to Harass Their Coworkers, Courtesy of Donald Glover & Rashida Jones
In the #MeToo and Time’s Up era of finally taking sexual harassment seriously, there are still far too many men who find these “new rules” confusing or even scary. These men bemoan the fact that you can’t even give a woman a hug anymore and they see the only reasonable solution (more reasonable than not harassing women, apparently) as no longer hiring women altogether.
For those who are still confused about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior in the workplace, Time’s Up has released a short PSA directed by Rashida Jones and narrated by Donald Glover. The video takes a simple Q&A model and answers questions like “Is it okay to greet your coworker with a deep, full-body hug or mouth kiss?” (no) and “Can you ask someone out at work?” (maybe), and follows each answer up with a straightforward explanation of why or why not.
As BuzzFeed reports, the video was made in collaboration with Blue Seat Studios, the company behind the brilliant 2015 “Tea Consent” video (based on Emmeline May’s words), which explains complicated issues of consent by way of an easy-to-understand analogy of a cup of tea. As in that video, the animation style of this new PSA is overly simplistic, highlighting the accessibility of the ideas being presented.
Additionally, Jones speaks to the importance of having a male narrator, saying, “It’s been a tough conversation to include men in, because I think there are a lot of things women feel men have not understood up until now, and they don’t feel like it’s their job to educate them.” And Glover narrates the video with a deliberately “cool, laid-back energy,” to avoid contributing to what Jones calls our collective “preach fatigue.”
I love that the video chooses to go beyond the initial questions of what constitutes harassment to address issues of complicity. Even if you are not making inappropriate comments or abusing power dynamics or doing anything at all that could be considered unacceptable, but you’ve heard or seen others do these things, do you need to speak up? Can’t you just ignore it or innocently laugh along? Is it really your problem? Absolutely. Because sexual harassment and abuse is everyone’s problem. As the video says, “It’s like a Ouija Board. If you’re not pushing or pulling, then the people who are pushing and pulling get to make the rules.”
And if you’re still somehow confused by all of this, Glover suggests you visit the handy website www.dontpullyourd*ckoutatwork.obviously.
You could, alternatively, visit the actually existent website of www.timesupnow.com.
(via BuzzFeed)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
