Today was mandatory sexual harassment awareness training day across our library network. Half the staff went a week ago, and the rest of us went today. The annoying part is that those of us who already strive to observe proper boundaries and not be discriminatory have to sit through a boring presentation that won't affect the scumbags anyway. The only redeeming feature is the reminder that if there is a case of harassment, we have a policy in place and procedure to follow in order to deal with it.
I think a bigger concern we face in our district is organizational chaos that abuses people by keeping them in the dark about organizational changes, and them choosing the poorest possible way to spring these changes on branch managers. Miscommunication is also rampant, and the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing when youth services, branch managers, and administration don't keep one another in the loop.
We don't have crass jokes, inappropriate physical contact, quid-pro-quo offers, or the like at my library, although we do have the occasional problem patron like the Lecherous Foreigner, and I know librarians at other branches who have mentioned other forms of abuse they have encountered from their respective bosses.
It seems to me (admittedly as an oblivious straight white male) that the focus on sexual harassment comes at the expense of other matters that more urgently need to be addressed. What are your workplace experiences, though? Is my specific library environment an exception? Have you experienced sexual harassment, gender discrimination, or other forms of abuse on the job? I would like to see your comments below.