I haven't really been following this story. I didn't worship Cuomo during his Covic press conference days. I figure the guy whose state was doing by far the worst couldn't be doing everything right, although I also figured it has special circumstances of lots of people in close spaces and many, many travellers.
As for the sexual conduct, I haven't paid attention to details. It sounds like he was, at best, creepy, and might have gone over the line into criminal or civil violations. However, the reason I'm posting is a headline caught my eye, and I read the accompanying story.
Here's the link to the story. The headline is in the link, it's about Cuomo making an unwanted advance on a woman at a wedding.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/01/gov-cuomo-accused-of-making-unwanted-advances-at-wedding/
Part of the story was:
“He said, ‘Can I kiss you?'” Ruch recalled. “I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed.”
So, here's the part I don't get.
How do you know an advance is unwanted unless you make an advance?
I get that the way it was described makes Cuomo look pretty creepy. No doubt about that. But creepy isn't criminal, and it isn't even "inappropriate"., to use that famous word that is meant to cover everything these days. It's just creepy. It's awkward. It's pushy. It creates tension, except when it works.
He made a move on her. She turned him down. Why are we reading this? I've made moves on girls that went nowhere. Girls have made moves on me that didn't end the way they wanted. I'm guessing that Cuomo has both intiiated more moves and received more than I ever did, but it happens to all of us. It's not headline worthy.
I can assure you that even in my younger days I would never have behaved like Cuomo is described as behaving. I can also assure you that I spent a lot of nights alone that, retroactively, I can see I did not need to spend alone.
So, even in the workplace, there are certain things that ought to be off limits, but just making a pass at someone really ought not to be a firing offense, much less the cause of a lawsuit or civil damages. Making two passes, after the first one is rebuffed? That ought to be a firing offense. Weinstein level threats? Really bad. However, men and women acting like men and women shouldn't be some reason that someone needs to lose a job.
As for the workplace accusations and Governor Cuomo, as I said, I'm not sure of the details of the allegations. I do think that sexual harassment in the workplace is a problem, but I don't subscribe to the theory that every sexual advance is an offense, even if there's some sort of power imbalance involved. Unwanted sexual advances are an offense, but how do you know they are unwanted the first time you make an advance?
