After #MeToo, workplace norms shifted and many men felt uncertain about how to act. Some examples describe men trying to follow new rules while avoiding actions that could be interpreted as inappropriate. One described colleague stopped taking interns out for drinks because it might look like an attempt to get interns drunk, even though the practice had been routine in prior years. The uncertainty is presented as partly understandable because new rules reduced room for nuance. The perspective also criticizes infantilizing men, arguing that men who can lead major organizations should be able to navigate creative, respectful ways to handle situations involving women under the new norms.
"In the wake of #MeToo, changing workplace norms left many men unsure of how to behave. But was that confusion genuine or just an excuse? On The Opinions, Frederick Joseph argues that many men became childlike during that time. I worked at a workplace where my boss left around this moment, and the culture of the workplace changed. But it left so many of my colleagues who were men, white men, who I really respected and who really, to me, it was obvious, respected women, confused about how to act."
"Like, I had one colleague who was like, I always take the interns out for drinks. Every year I take the interns out for drinks, but I can't take the interns out for drinks this year because it'll look like I'm trying to get interns drunk, and I can't get interns drunk. And I could just see that he was really trying to figure it out, and I had real empathy for that because we were defining new rules, and the new rules left very little room for nuance."
"What I would say is in terms of the white men at that time especially, I just as a cis het man, I just feel like it's, and I'm not saying you, but I just I'm not interested in infantilizing these people. You can run a Fortune 500 company, but you can't understand how to not do something, how to do something creative to take interns out who are women? I feel like a lot of white men suddenly became childlike during that time."
Read at www.nytimes.com
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