What are Your Tribes?

The human hierarchy has three basic levels: the individual, the family, and the tribe.

That's a simplification, of course, but it captures the essence of human grouping. We experience life as individuals. We see the family as a natural unit. And we all belong to tribes.

Our tribal loyalties aren't usually a problem. Membership in a tribe is usually healthy, and it helps enhance our lives. But it seems to me that these days we're seeing a lot of unhealthy tribal identification in America.

Fake Harassment Stories

I came across a post today from the Science on Google+ community. It was a link to a blog entry about a woman who was finally coming forward to tell about the sexual harassment she suffered at a science conference.

I was interested enough to read the article, and then I was infuriated. It was a story about a single unwanted sexual advance at a party during the meeting. That was it.

The women this happened to and her defenders in the comments justified calling this sexual harassment because of the emotional suffering she claims it caused her. I call bullshit on all of them.  I've seen genuine sexual harassment. I've seen the effect it has on women. It's insulting for someone to try to equate the experiences of those women to a single unwanted sexual invitation that was stopped by a "no".