www.fastcompany.com: Like many professionals, I start my day with a cup of coffee and a quick scan of LinkedIn. It’s part of my mental “power hour” where I catch up on what happened overnight and fill my brain with the news, insights and trends that will help me do better work each day.
8 comments:
This is so problematic. Females should not have to be fighting against cyber harassment on any platform, especially a reputable website like LinkedIn. I’ve seen countless posts like the one that is highlighted in this article on my Facebook page… and the comments are similar. Because of the lack of regulations on bots and also on people when it comes to websites and posts like this -- we end up with toxic and sexist comment sections. The writer of this article does make a good point with the fact that on LinkedIn, you have a public profile that can get you jobs and people are shamelessly posting misogynistic comments on countless photos. How has this not been regulated? It's also problematic for companies to not look at these comments as a deciding factor because they carry weight in how people treat others. I’m glad they’re finally rolling out “solutions” (I think they’re more mitigation tools then anything else) to this problem. However, it shows how much they really care when they only do it when people complain and not proactively search to solve this and problems like this one.
I have seen numerous posts on Linkedin that are just like what this article mentioned in the beginning- catcalls, hurtful comments, and overall demeaning and derogatory statements that are against women. It shocks me how direct and blunt people can be with their mean comments on a professional site where you are trying to make business connections, not break them. Another thing I have noticed on Linkedin from other women is getting private messages on Linkedin from men trying to hit on them or flirt with them. This completely astonishes me. I think it goes by much more unnoticed because many people just delete the messages, let it go, and move on, but how is this another norm that society has accepted and allowed to happen in a virtual, but still professional environment. I appreciate LinkedIn doing what they can to step in and introduce new “tools” to help mitigate this issue but a large part of me wonders if this is even enough.
What this article talks about is such a real thing, something that I have faced in the past one year. The only reason that I created a LinkedIn account was for networking but the number of times that I have received a connection request only for the person to get to know me and share my life story with them is just sad. I do not expect to make friends on a professional website, and sometimes it is even worse when the other person is incessant and refuse to realize that they are making someone else uncomfortable and crossing boundaries.
It feels terrible to see that so many women have to deal with this kind of behavior but it is equally fulfilling to realize that we got this, and that we do not have to deal with anyone’s nonsense for any purpose. LinkedIn is a professional website and it will be so good if everyone treated it as one.
Ugh this is so disappointing and disgusting to read. Like this article points out, it should not be the job of the woman being harassed to have to report it and be responsible for making sure it gets taken down. There needs to way to stop people from writing these comments in the first place. And even though LinkedIn has guidelines that prohibit any kind of harassment, I am wondering why people who have posted these comments are still allowed to have an account. It seems to me that if someone breaks the rules of the guidelines of a platform in a way such as this, they should be taken off the platform. I really hope that employers are taking note of some of these comments and who is posting them. I also really do think the bigger issue here is, like the article said, how comfortable men are in their misogyny. There have never been any repercussions for them being so sexist in the past that now they just think it is okay.
You know I typically say I’m not surprised when I see this sort of behavior but on LinkedIn, like REALLY?? You can’t even keep your misogyny contained in your personal social media accounts you put them on your professional profile. I think this just proves that being sexist is not widely considered unprofessional if it was we wouldn’t see this behavior so widespread on any platform, especially LinkedIn. Also reflecting on my past experiences at work it is interesting to reflect and think about a problematic individual who would harass women in the workplace (myself included and largely a major target because we worked in such close proximity to each other) and the Production Manager asked me if he should sit down and talk to him about his behavior, however when he was late for a second time the Production Manager immediately had a meeting with him to discuss professionalism. I think LinkedIn can do a lot better, first step is admitting there is a problem and it appears that they have yet to do that so any indirect approaches they’ve been implementing is only going to be marginally impactful. I hope sooner rather than later we can shift to be more capable to addressing difficult problems head on because the indirectness of these approaches are simply wasting time.
That’s sad how people need a constant reminder to just treat people with respect and not harass others. Although if reminders stop even one hateful comment from appearing on another woman’s page, I’m all for it. I hate how our workforce is so steeped in misogyny that men find it acceptable to publicly make these comments on women’s pages on a platform meant to connect professionals. This isn’t like instagram or twitter where you can hide behind a screen name, LinkedIn shows exactly who you are and where you work. They have no shame. LinkedIn needs to recognize how the women on their platform are currently being treated because it is unacceptable. Additionally, it’s ridiculous that the responsibility is then put on the women to handle hate comments they are receiving. If they don’t make changes, I wouldn’t be surprised if people start moving to other platforms.
I am not sure if it was because I am not too familiar with Linkedin or because I exist in the world as a cis man and am thus privileged, meaning I do not experience misogyny, but I was shocked by this article. More and more often we see everyday people wrecking their lives by saying terrible things online. Take Amy Cooper, or the countless viral TikToks/Instagram posts that have resulted in students’ college acceptances being revoked. What is so hard to grasp about the concept that what you do online stays online? Obviously, these people should never be saying the things they comment in person either. It just baffles me that these people would be stupid enough to say these things in 2020, especially in a platform that functions as an online office space. It is a terrifying sign of the times that men like these no longer feel the need to hide. I completely agree with the article that simply saying “don’t be mean” is not enough.
I find LinkedIn’s response absolutely ridiculous. Saying that harassment isn’t tolerated doesn’t mean that you aren’t tolerating it! Clearly, if nothing is being done about all of these comments, LinkedIn is tolerating harassment. Reminding all users to be professional on a platform specifically designed for professional interactions isn’t likely to change anything. Will misogynists care about the new message displayed in their text box before writing a comment? Why should they? They know that they can get away with harassing women, which is why they seem so unconcerned about doing it on a public account where all of their information is visible for everyone to see. Unless LinkedIn begins to suspend and ban users, reporting the comments to companies and businesses that hire the attackers, their efforts at change are futile. It’s so frustrating to see that the female experience remains tarnished by the hands of men, no matter the platform being used.
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