Why Firing a Sexual Harasser Works Best for Everyone

Most of my work life I've worked in places that had zero tolerance for sexual harassers. At one place, a multinational corporation, a high-level engineer was immediately fired when it was discovered by IT staff that his computer sent porn to a printer at the workgroup secretary's desk. Some people find this kind of punishment too drastic.  I  don't think so.

The problem with harassers is they don't view their behavior as harmful or unwelcome. They think they are just having fun.  The words "No, stop, leave me alone" have no meaning for them.  How do I know this?   Because I've had friends, mostly female but at least one male who have had to deal with it.  In all cases, these were assertive to aggressive personalities and not the sort of people who would keep their mouths shut when faced with abuse. They were ignored and threatened with retaliation. HR in these organizations gave them no support for the exact same reasons that Fox, Uber and American Apparel gave their employees' complaints short shrift. I watched friends get depressed and demoralized while trying to find any work that would allow them to leave a toxic environment.  The abuser also held the cards in terms of giving recommendations and it was a tricky proposition to figure out ways around that.  Just as rape is not “a little unwanted sex”, sexual harassment is not “a little harmless fun.”