If a back rub from a colleague is ‘icky’ it’s time to toughen up, writes Susie O’Brien

I was surprised when former ABC chief Michelle Guthrie claimed a non-sexual backrub from former ABC chairman Justin Milne was “icky” and inappropriate. A backrub? Really? Dare I suggest it’s time for people to toughen up, writes Susie O’Brien.

Soon workers are going to be prohibited from any physical conduct with any co-workers.

No handshakes. No pats on the arm. No shoulder rubs. And definitely no back rubs or hugs.

You could be crying about a lost job, a stray dog or hard slog, and no one would offer any comfort, affection, friendship or support for fear of being accused of sexual harassment or the more nebulous “inappropriate touching”.

What is the world coming to?

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I’ve written about sexual harassment for years as a journalist, experienced it at many workplaces directly and even worked as an Equal Opportunity contact officer at a university many decades ago.

But I was surprised when former ABC chief Michelle Guthrie claimed a non-sexual backrub from former ABC chairman Justin Milne was “icky” and inappropriate.

A backrub? Really? Dare I suggest it’s time for people to toughen up?

Guthrie has reportedly said the backrub — which has been strenuously denied by Milne - was not sexual in nature.

She’s said it didn’t affect her professional relationship with Milne.

She declined to make a formal complaint about it to the board when urged to do so.

And yet her allegation of inappropriate touching, which other board members say they did not witness, is now part of her adverse action claim against the public broadcaster.

Former ABC Chairman Justin Milne and former Managing Director Michelle Guthrie. Picture: AAP

So now we have to be concerned about non-sexual sexual harassment as well as the sexual kind? It seems so.

Maurice Blackburn lawyer Kamal Farouque told ABC radio this morning behaviour “doesn’t have to be sexual to be inappropriate”.

Similarly, Karen O’Connell, a discrimination lawyer from the University of Technology Sydney, has been quoted as saying that touching could be “inappropriate without being sexual harassment”.

I can’t see how — unless it’s bad enough to count as abuse, of course.

An ACTU survey released today shows an astonishing 60 per cent of women and 35 per cent of men have experienced sexual harassment at work.

This includes 69 per cent who have experienced crude or offensive behaviour, 46 per cent unwanted sexual attention, 34 per cent inappropriate contact of a sexual nature and eight per cent sexual coercion.

Nearly one in five say they had been sexually harassed on social media.

Clearly, sexual harassment is a real and a major issue in today’s workplaces.

So, when someone who’s tough, high-profile and successful like Michelle Guthrie makes a big deal about a non-sexual backrub, that didn’t affect her relationship with the alleged perpetrator, it feels like she’s crying wolf.

The more women — and some men — make a big deal about minor, easily managed issues, the less likely people are to listen when something major is going wrong.

Now, I know sexual harassment is in the eye of the receiver — it’s up to the person on the receiving end of the behaviour to decide if it’s inappropriate or not. But this must be a reasonable conclusion.

Who knows? A back rub from a colleague may be clumsy. It may be awkward. But if it’s not something that affects the professional relationship or is sexual in nature, then maybe it should be simply ignored.

Perhaps they were just trying to be nice.