RM> -> *4 NAME CALLING OR HARASSMENT:  JURY RULES IN SOUTH KORTRIGHT   
RM> -> Eve Bruneau, a student who filed suit against South
RM> -> Kortright Central School District for allegedly allowing male
RM> -> students to harass her and other girls, lost her case (news
RM> -> services/WASH POST, 11/22).  A federal jury yesterday rejected
RM> -> her claim, saying that "it was unreasonable to look at adolescent
RM> -> name-calling with adult expectations," writes the paper.
RM> 
RM> If the decision was in the nature of "boys will be boys", 
RM> then the jury consisted of a bunch of jackasses.....
    Depends on the age of the students.
    Sexual-harassment law for _workplaces_ deals with the behavior of mature 
_adults_.  Court decisions defining "sexual harassment" didn't have 
12-year-old _boys_ in mind.
    When I was 12, I remember that kids teased each other over all kinds of 
things.  Sexual-harassment law was defined by judges having a very different 
scenario in mind, and both judges and jurors are very aware of how non-adult 
6th-grade kids are!
RM> SK>Students (boys) called the girls names like "dog-faced bitch" 
RM> SK>and grabbed at their breasts. I think 11- and 12- year old boys 
RM> SK>ought to realize that this isn't appropriate behavior.
RM> I agree... I think a LOT of what routinely happens should
RM> be recognized as inappropriate behavior; 
    Most of which is _not_ sexually-related.
    Most teasing of kids by other kids in that age range has nothing to do 
with sex, and jurors and judges know that.  They are not willing to judge a 
12-year-old boy by the standards a 45-year-old manager is judged in a 
sexual-harassment case.
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