ANN ALTHOUSE ISN’T VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE KOZINSKI COMPLAINTS:

One set of images she remembered was of college-age students at a party where ‘some people were inexplicably naked while everyone else was clothed.’ Another was a sort of digital flip book that allowed users to mix and match heads, torsos and legs to create an image of a naked woman.”

The “pornography” wasn’t related to any legal case. I’m putting “pornography” in quotes because I don’t think of photographs of a naked person is “pornography.” Is this Renoir painting pornography?

It’s bad — it’s atrocious! — but it’s not pornography. If I ask you whether you find those Renoir women sexually attractive, am I sexually harassing you? Is the workplace hostile if X lets you see that he’s looking at a picture of a naked person and asks if you find that naked person sexually attractive? I mean, anybody can see from the vantage point of today that it’s a bad idea to interact like that in the workplace, but I think a proportionate reaction would be to agree that we shouldn’t be doing that and move forward.

The Weinstein/Spacey type stuff is one thing, but we’re now down to the level of stuff that trivializes the problem. And lots of male judges (and others) will look at this and say well, I’m never going to act like Weinstein, but who knows what some female clerk or employee will decide was offensive years later, and want a non-proportionate reaction, so the only safe thing to do is not hire female clerks or employees.