What: A funny lesson in the intricacies of not sexually harassing women. (There are a comedically exaggerated amount of them here.)
Who: Rachel Parris of BBC Two’s The Mash Report.
Why we care: Men are feeling nervous lately–and not just famous men with a terrible, well-hidden secret that could potentially go public at any moment. No, the legions of everyday men who are just that little bit terrible are also worried. They’ve responded to incidents like the public shaming of Aziz Ansari for inappropriate sexual behavior and walked away thinking “What if I’m next?” rather than any of the other more important takeaways. One of the more common responses from worried men lately has been to ask where women even draw the line between regular behavior and sexual harassment. For anyone who can’t figure out the answer by studying the way people react to them, a new episode of the BBC Two show The Mash Report has some suggestions.
Rachel Parris, who is a correspondent on the British Daily Show-type program, uses a slide presentation and role-play to soothe men’s worries over questions such as, “Is hugging okay?” (Hugging is okay, mostly not at work, and only until the point that the hug feels like it’s gone on for a weird length of time.) Parris’s chipper affect while delivering these beyond obvious “tips” belies the bewilderment of most women that some men would actually be confused on these points. At least now some of them will have one less reason to remain confused.
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