[ruthburr]

Innuendo is a really really hard one, because a lot of women appreciate a dirty joke as much as men do. I wish the solution could be "let's go ahead and all be grown-ups about it" but that doesn't seem to be working. So instead I'll say "let's think about the things we say and whether or not we're contributing to a sexually-charged environment at work events." Again, context matters: go ahead and make innuendoes among your pals in your own time, Lord knows I will.

[mc32]

As I've mentioned before, culture matters too. I've mentioned before that in France, sexual tension at the workplace is pretty commonplace in big cities. It's kind of a way of enjoying oneself at work among colleagues. It's typically viewed as harassment, though in some cases it can become so in France as well. Also, imagine the 70s when, at least young unmarried, people were a lot less preoccupied by what previous generations found sexually acceptable and not. Lots of people were more into romping off (of course this was before the wide spread of diseases) --it helped that in the late 60s easy contraception became available.

So, I think a lot of how sexual innuendo and repartee and double entendres is received is dependent on society and mores. I'm not saying contemporary America should emulate any other society, just saying it's not necessarily a given that our way of understanding this is the one way to view this.

Here's a different example. For some people male circumcision is seen as the right way and even extol health benefits --to others it's tantamount to mutilation and undue suffering such that some locales have considered banning the practice.