John wrote:Mountain Mist wrote:Dustin Hoffman surprises me, 'cause little girls are effected forever when that happens when they are decent, young girls. I would never have guessed that about Dustin Hoffman.
You know what, it's banter at work. I heard weird things at work when I was 16/17. Some of it was of a sexual nature but you just laughed. There was this blonde worked there, she was shapely and flirty and young and all the blokes ogled her and made suggestive remarks. She just used to laugh. If anyone had tried anything physical, that would have been different, but words? I don't think Dustin did anything, did he?
There may be more to come out, so who knows, but so far I can't see that he did anything wrong. Of course, some 17 years olds are more mature than others.
The girl from your work may have come from a large family, was outgoing, loved being the center of attention, and had some life experience under her belt plus had not had anything particularly inappropriate happen in her past.
Nothing wrong with banter, if they start gently and let the girl adjust to know she is safe (and the men aren't creepy nor touch if uninvited, as they don't realise that if they have done it, others probably have too, and the girl is sick of it, when not interested).
I worked for two large companies and had a lot of innocent fun and felt safe (along with having to put up with some absolute creeps from different walks of life who thought they were entitled, including other women's husbands).
I think Dustin touched and remember back then, to speak inappropriately, as was reported, was not the done thing, people weren't as desensitized as they are now.
Dustin seems pretty harmless to me and the woman reporting him might be being inappropriate, now.