Is eating a popsicle at work sexual harassment?

Women eating a banana (or a popsicle) very slowly and seductively has been a staple of "guy" comedy movies for years. Usually, the scene is set to some suggestive music and the guy's eyes are almost popping out of their sockets.

But does that mean that women can't eat these kinds of food at work?

Depends on whether you're part of the Association of Finnish Lawyers, I guess.

They've recently put out a video that basically says that yes, it can be sexual harassment of the men in the office if a woman is eating a popsicle at work.

The video is a bit...exaggerated to make their point, though.



According to the Daily Mail (whenever I'm citing the Daily Mail, you know the story's going to be strange), the Association is "calling for new sexual harassment laws to include women who eat ‘too provocatively’ in public."


Looking at the video, I have to ask: who eats a popsicle that way? Ladies, do you moan at the taste of grape flavour, or does it take strawberry to really get your motor running? If you're at work and enjoying your food that much, then I think there's something else wrong with you. Unless, of course, you're staring into your co-worker's eyes as you do it, in which case you might just be cast in "The Office: Porn Version."

Then again...(thanks to IGN)

The same goes for eating a banana, I would think. Most of the women I know, if they aren't cutting it into slices, just pop it in, chomp, and release.

(Pause for a quick Bobbit-like image and subsequent cringing)

But if you do eat a banana a bit more slowly, why should you be penalized for eating it the way that works for you?

Unless you go up to a male co-worker's desk and do it right in his face or something.

(Note to my female readers: I'd love to know how you eat food like this, and whether you even think about how it looks or if you just do it the way you want to do it and images be damned)

I guess the Finnish Lawyers Association is just trying to drive home the point that men can be sexually harassed too. Yes, I agree that sexual harassment of all varieties is wrong and must be stamped out.

However, I also agree that many claims of it are so far out there that true sexual harassment is getting watered down and obscured by spurious cases that don't stand up to any close inspection.

Does using a woman suggestively eating a popsicle really further your cause much? It's so exaggerated and outlandish that it reduces any serious point you might be making.

Besides, maybe she just really likes fruit-flavoured frozen treats?

Sometimes a popsicle is just a popsicle (I think Freud was just hungry when he said that, though).