LJ brain trust question

[ocelot]

Several students at a yoga studio feel they have been touched inappropriately by the instructor. However, there is enough ambiguity for the instructor to have plausible deniability - that he was simply correcting their poses, as is part of his job as teacher.

What is the best course of action for these students to take to prevent other students from being harmed? Is there any legal recourse? Bonus points if you happen to know anything specific to California.

(No, I'm not one of the students involved in this.)

Comments

[hermionesmum.livejournal.com]

I don't know about specific to California, but I say phone, giving the guy anonymity initially, whichever organization licenses yoga teaching, explain what has been happening and ask if they view this to normal and acceptable. If not, ask them how it should be persued.

[temperance14.livejournal.com]

Do you have a women's center on your compus? Consult them.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Has anyone talked to the instructor in question?

Generally, a good instructor will ask before touching the student to correct a pose, especially if any of the following are true:
1) the student and the teacher are of different sex
2) the contact is in an area not normally touched in daily life
3) the student and the teacher do not have an established, on-going working relationship

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

It's not school thing, but the UCD one would probably be a good start.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

It sounds like 1 and 2 are being broken. It is unclear whether anyone has talked to the teacher in question, but he is aware of the allegation, denies them, and is defensive about them. It's possible that there truly is no bad intentions on his part, simply poor boundary recognition.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

3 can trump at least 2 -- I've only had male teachers as subs or visiting teachers, but it may also trump 1 in some cases. He may simply be making assumptions.

On the other hand, defensivesness and poor boundary recognition are not good traits in a yoga instructor, regardless of unsavory intentions. I'm fairly sure that if I went to any yoga teacher I've had (except maybe that one woman I really didn't like) and said "When you did X, it made me uncomfortable", they would apologize and take steps to prevent further problems. For any X, not just touching.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's about how I'd expect him to handle it - apologize and say he will be more attentive to boundaries in the future.

[theducks.livejournal.com]

My advice would be to walk away. With plausible deniability, I would think actually getting anything done would cause far more hassle.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

The problem with this is that, after the initial post about the issue, several more people have come forward to say that the same thing happened to them. It's becoming increasingly clear it isn't a limited problem, and something needs to happen to protect others.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea, and I've made that suggestion.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Have the students confronted the teacher about it yet? I'd understand if they didn't feel comfortable, but perhaps if they all confronted him as a group, they may get him to change his behavior. Perhaps it's a misunderstanding and he's not aware that he's making anybody uncomfortable? That being said, if this group really feels that strongly that he's doing it and he's doing it on purpose, is there a higher-up they can go to? Can they report it to somebody higher up the food chain? Those would be my suggestions.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

They did not confront him directly. However, he is aware of their complaints (they were made publicly). I agree that would have been the best course of action, especially if he wasn't intentionally doing anything wrong. I believe the teacher in question is the owner of the studio, but I've made the suggestion that they contact whatever yoga organization he belongs to.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Well I'm glad they handled it. And I hope they're all okay.