NO H8

On November 4th 2008, Proposition 8 passed in California, banning same-sex marriage. Soon after, the “NOH8 Campaign” was created by photographer Adam Bouska as a form of silent protest. As part of the campaign, Bouska has taken pictures of thousands of pictures of individuals and groups with “NOH8” painted on their faces and duct tape across their mouths to represent the voices not being heard. This movement caught the attention of celebrities and politicians, including two very unexpected people: Cindy and Meghan McCain (wife and daughter of John McCain, respectively). Although all three are Republicans, Cindy and Meghan both support same-sex marriage which, according to ABC News, puts them “in stark opposition to the views of their party and at odds with the Senator himself.”
Being completely liberal, I was absolutely thrilled to read this story and not just because I agree with their stance on same-sex marriage. For them to be so close to a high-profile Republican Senator and not only admit that they don’t agree with the party’s stance on the issue, but to openly protest against it was an incredible show of courage. I understand that a politician has more to lose by taking a stance that is unpopular with their political party, but maybe some of them can learn from this display and become more independent.

theworsexkplace

When it comes to sex in the workplace, especially between an employee and a member of management, people always seem to think they know which party is at fault. Either there is a young overly-flirtatious, gold-digging floozy trying to cause trouble and somehow get money or there is a power-abusing, pervert using his position to get in the pants of all the innocent young teenagers who are coming into the workplace for the first time.
ABC News tells the story of a 16 year old girl, a barista at Starbucks, who claims that her 24 year old manager was going to use personal information against her if she didn't have sex with him and that other managers knew about and did nothing to stop the sexual relationship. When the girl's mother found a pregnancy test, she began questioning her daughter who told her about what was going on at work. Now the 16 year old is suing Starbucks. In their defense, Starbucks has made it public knowledge that this girl had not only had sex before, but a lot of it! They claim she's had "sexual encounters" with 12 other men.
Hopefully the courts got this one right. If the girl was victimized and honestly felt like she HAD to have sex with this man for whatever reason, then he deserves what he got. What bothers me about this is what I read in most of the comments. Everyone seems to know who to blame just by skimming through a few paragraphs on their lunch break. I've got more questions. I want to see the text messages. And what exactly did the boss know?
Now if I had to guess, I would say this girl probably enjoyed getting attention from an older man, at least at first. The biggest question I have is when did she stop enjoying the attention? Was it when the relationship became sexual? When her mom found the pregnancy test? When Starbucks disclosed how many sexual partners she's allegedly had? Or is she still enjoying the attention she's getting? Whatever the case, the people commenting are very eager to talk about how horrible Starbucks is and not at all willing to ask more questions or do more research before they decide who to blame.