I think Aaron and all the housemates who were laughing and egging on completely read the situation wrong and saw it all as just a continuation of the usual joking and messing between Aaron and Joel that has being going on the last 3 weeks.
I know some people are saying that he was harassing Joel by the flirting that was going on over the weeks, but I always just saw it as them messing about and never saw any sign that Joel was ever offended. He would sometimes use a stern voice with Aaron but even that often seemed to be part of the joke between them, because Aaron would pretend like Joel was being dominant in an attractive way and Joel would usually smile or joke like he was only being mock 'stern' with Aaron. I never noticed he was uncomfortable, I actually thought they seemed very comfortable around each other, either by joking about in the garden or sitting in the tub together having chats. Even tonight in the tub Aaron said that the things he says were only "banter" and Joel said "I know".
The situation in the bedroom definitely went too far though. I think all the alcohol and egging on is not an excuse but that it worsened the situation and what was usually just fairly harmless joking between the pair escalated into something that was crossing a line where it suddenly became uncomfortable for Joel.
I don't think that Aaron has being harassing Joel for weeks, I think for the most part Joel liked Aaron as a friend and saw it as just a jokey thing between the two of them.
Getting naked and making contact though, and having half the house laughing at this situation clearly really made Joel very uncomfortable and I don't think he knew how to react. I think the reason he didn't get very angry and shout in a serious tone at Aaron is because he knew it was Aaron just messing around and everyone else was taking it as a joke so he didn't want to look like he was overreacting or making a big deal. But it obviously was upsetting him and I think he was just afraid to shout about it and just kept his usual fairly calm stern tone that he often did when they were just joking but it wasn't taken seriously by Aaron or the housemates because they thought it was just the usual game between them going on.
I felt really sorry for Joel in the diaryroom when it finally became apparent to me how uncomfortable and angry he was. Had I not seen Joel's diary room conversation I would never have realised from the bedroom segment that he was actually really angry (because of him laughing and smiling and I couldn't tell that the tone of his voice was really angry) , I would have just thought that Aaron was going much too far,and that Joel was finding Aaron very annoying but that they would probably have been friendly again in the morning if they talked it out.
I must say I felt bad and annoyed by
myself for not recognising that Joel was so upset after watching the bedroom segment. I was annoyed at myself for misreading what I had just seen and for thinking that Joel just seemed merely annoyed. (I did think Aaron was going too far though). I would also feel bad about my own judgement if it turns out Joel has actually always been uncomfortable for weeks for what I saw as a jokey friendship between the pair - although I haven't seen any evidence that this is the case as Joel even after Aaron's removal described him as a great person and great housemate etc. I do think they were friends so hopefully I'm not wrong about that too.
Aaron completely went too far by continuing to get into the bed, doing the thrusting thing behind Joel and chasing him about complete naked. It went beyond a harmless joke then because he was actually getting into physical contact with his naked body and kept it going instead of stopping when Joel just wanted to go to bed.
I think it started as a jokey situation that went WAAAAAAAAAAY over the line, and I think Joel had a right to feel angry and to feel Aaron had gone too far.
I do however think that drunken Aaron saw it all as just messing about, and that he never intended to seriously upset Joel. I think he will be absolutely mortified when he realises how Joel was really feeling, and I do believe he was very genuinely sorry in the diary room.
I can absolutely see why BB removed him though. I think this poster basically summed it up perfectly, all of the post but particularly the bolded section:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rorkimaru
Fact of the matter is if Christian did that to Jade or Ciaran did that to Chloe the entire viewership would be up in arms. Gender and orientation doesn't change the rules for sexual harassment. Regardless of it being without malicious intent these situations have to be judged by how the person being harassed felt not by the intentions of the harasser.
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Aaron,
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