Giving Teasing a New Name

I opened my sunday Times this morning to find an interesting article. Dacher Kelter,  a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkley has undertaken a new study of what it means to tease.  He argues that teasing is a good thing, and is too often confused with bullying.  He examines the way people tease one another and criticizes the initiatives that many schools, companies, and institutions have taken to create "tease free zones." Kelter sees teasing as a important part of human interaction. I found this article really interesting, having been through a number of job training seminars which included clauses on teasing (especially in relation to sexual harassment) and many of the questions and problems that Kelter brought up seemed to ring true.