Please Don't Make Fun Of Your Virgin Friends
By Chiara Atik for HowAboutWe.com
An awful story in the NY Post today, via Jezebel: a nurse is suing the NYU Langone Medical Center after enduring sexual harassment and teasing from her co-workers, who had taken to calling her "The 41 Year-Old Virgin." You know, like the movie? The 40 Year-Old Virgin? So clever.
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Apparently everyone from doctors to nurses had taken to calling her by the moniker, and constantly urging her to have sex. (I could make a joke about poor bedside manner, here.) One pediatric neurosurgeon in particular took it upon himself to enlighten her on what sex is actually like by quoting one of the more gross Jonah Hill lines of the movie. The situation worsened when she was diagnosed with endometriosis, which, for some reason, became the topic of hospital cafeteria gossip.
Now she's suing the hospital for $45 million in damages.
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Two things to learn from this:
1) Never Discuss Your Sex Life At Work. Please don't misunderstand me -- the behavior of the hospital staff, if true, is absolutely intolerable. But coworkers behaving badly is just one of a myriad of reasons to keep your private life to yourself in a professional environment. How many sexual partners (if any) you've had is not information to be swapped around in the break room.
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2) Do Not Make Fun Of People Who Are Virgins! Seriously folks: how come it's become un-PC to call someone a slut or make fun of promiscuity, but virginity is still fair game?
There are personal reasons, there are medical reasons, there are religious reasons, there's asexuality, and there are endless other situations and circumstances that can explain someone's virginity. Some people are totally fine with never having had sex, and some people are really, deeply not okay with it; either way, it's probably not something that you should joke about. Or you might get sued for 45 million dollars.
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