This post is inspired by two recently read OS posts, one by Scanner, the other by Safe Bet's Amy.   Opposite sides of the 'fence', and both are right.

Sexual harassment is a tricky subject - not exactly black and white nor is the 'remedy' cut and dried.   Place and time and the individuals involved matter.   And there's something else that needs to be considered.   Blue collar as opposed to white collar environments.   I've experienced both and they are completely different 'creatures'.   The blue collar (especially factory or construction) work place is atmospherically different from the office.   Perhaps the difference lies between so-called unskilled labor and 'professionals' and the attitudes that generally accompany the two.   In an office/professional environment it's mostly about power, money, prestige and position.   In a factory/construction environment it's mostly about getting in there and doing the job, little emphasis on advancement of any kind (many workers don't want the responsibility of managing co-workers) they just want to earn their pay and get home to the family.   Advancement in the white collar world can eventually mean company CEO - advancement in the blue collar world rarely means coming close to running the company (that kind of advancement often means starting your own company).   This is an oversimplification but it's a 'nuts and bolts' over view.

In essence we're talking about different kinds of people and their aims with regards to their work - and in the professional world there's a lot more opportunity for sexually oriented 'blackmail' (read power plays).   Not to say that sexual harassment doesn't happen in the blue collar world, it can/does - but (and I'm going to catch a lot of flack for this I suppose) often the women handle the situation wrongly.   Now it's definitely not right that a woman should be in a position to handle anything 'wrongly', but as a woman I'm speaking from experience here.   Wrong or right, how a woman is treated in the blue collar work place (speaking here of work that was originally known as a 'man's job') often depends on how sensitive she is to the actions of her co-workers.   If the banter common to this environment upsets her, she can make her feelings known without inciting retaliation (I've done it) - or she can take the easy way out and become one of the 'boys' (I've done that too).   Or she can rock the proverbial boat to the point of tipping it over (I've never found that necessary).   "It's a man's job" is a dynamic, and this dynamic was seriously ruptured when women took over places in this workforce during WWII.   I'm not sure that the work place - or our conception of it - has recovered from the rupture, the wound is still 'bleeding' I think.   Men really are from Mars, women really from Venus, and when the Venusians 'invaded' Mars sparks began to fly in all directions.   Because the white collar world is about power and advancement the embers still smolder ; the blue collar world has been dragged along for the ride.

The major difference between the two, in my observations, is as follows.

In the blue collar world - the so-called man's world - generally once a woman shows she is capable of doing her job, ie won't slough off and expect her male neighbor to do 'the hard stuff' (which does happen) the men around her will usually accept her as a co-worker.   Because advancement in the blue collar world isn't the 'elephant in the room' that it can be in the white collar world there's less chance or desire for power plays - there's simply an overload of testosterone in the place that used to be a man's world in which women now work.   In comparison we're looking at the same thing that happens when a woman walks into a bar - she's there to find a wo/man or she's there to get a drink (or both ;).   It's up to the woman to make the why clear to those who might approach her.   There are a variety of ways to do that - some lead to trouble - the woman makes the choice.   Usually that's well enough, occassionally in spite of her choice a man will refuse to acknowledge why she's there and there might be trouble anyway.   So you go to management (unless you've found your 'happy medium' and accepting male co-workers straighten the brewing situation out for you) and trust that right will be done.   Sadly that doesn't always happen - but right does happen more often in the blue collar world than the white collar world.

In the white collar world the specter of failure looms, as well as the emphasis on advancement - unless you're actively and visibly climbing that ladder you're not 'succeeding' in the white collar world.   Because advancement is just about the whole ball of wax in the white collar (read corporate) world the drive to succeed rules all, and the saying does go 'all's fair in love and war' - the white collar corporate world is about war ; not (always) of the sexes, simply of the 'winners' and many will use any means to succeed.   Absolute power corrupts absolutely as another saying goes, and power over others is a heady thing ; add the Venus and Mars thing into a workplace that demands successful advancement and you get sexual harassment.

Exacerbated by those in higher, well established (work place 'politically' difficult to unseat) positions who enjoy the 'perks' that they think are implied.

As I said, an oversimplification.   Not addressing that individuals who value power for all the wrong reasons don't come to roost in blue collar management, they certainly do - and the correction for such a situation in the blue collar world can (usually does) get messy.   IF it gets corrected at all.   And definitely not addressing the still-remaining fact that women are usually subordinate and underpaid in any work place.   All of that aside, both Scanner's piece and Safe Bet Amy's are right - there is a degree of overreaction on the subject, but any way you look at it sexual (and any other form of) harassment, not only in the workplace, is wrong and shouldn't be happening or be allowed to continue when it does.   But it does happen and often is overlooked.   The rupture is still bleeding.   Men and women and social views on what habits and actions are acceptable from either sex are in a state of flux.   For too many it is still a man's world and women venturing into it should only occupy 'their' place - all too often designated as not a place of power.   Real equality, sexual, racial or religious, in the work place and elsewhere, is still an ideal, not a reality.   Still a work in progress.   For the foreseeable future I think, sometimes we're going to screw up and get it wrong.   Bringing about this change will continue to be a long and painful process, until if, or when, it's complete.