It is possible to feel a quick pang of sympathy for former Dundee policeman Greg Jamieson.
After grabbing a colleague’s breast on a drunken night out he has lost his job, is more than likely to lose another, and will be on the sex offenders register for the next five years.
But his case is another example of the paradigm shift that has occurred since last October, when the monstrous allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein first became public knowledge.
Since then the #metoo movement has detailed stories of sexual assault and harassment from women across the western world.
And, over the last week, the expose of The President’s Club men-only fundraising events at the Dorchester Hotel in London has revealed a loathsome culture of sexual harassment and entitlement.
There, women employed as hostesses were propositioned, harassed and groped by patrons of the black tie event.
Inevitably, and exhaustingly, some have tried to say the women employed as hostesses should have known what they were getting into because of the instructions they received on how they should dress.
Similarly, the female police officer groped by Jamieson received abuse from some of her colleagues because the incident had been reported to senior management by her sergeant.
Victim blaming in these cases is ridiculous. It is the men carrying out the harassment and assault who are responsible, no one else and certainly not those on the receiving end of their attentions.
Harvey Weinstein is, if the allegations are to be believed, a thoroughly vile human being. Greg Jamieson is, in all likelihood, not.
But men everywhere need to understand what is acceptable behaviour and what is not.
Pawing, groping, getting a bit “handsy”, whatever you want to call it, is inexcusable. Women should not have to take such attention as a joke, or as some would see it, flattery. Nor is alcohol somehow a cover for inappropriate behaviour.
It doesn’t matter how someone is dressed and it doesn’t matter the social situation, no one should be made to feel violated or threatened whether working as a hostess or, even worse, when supposedly out with friends.
Men need to be aware that although they may view their actions has a bit of harmless fun or even flirting, those on the receiving end may not see it the same way – nor are they under any obligation to do so.
