Love + Sex

From the Community…

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  Posted by Jessica Ashley, Shine staff Thu May 8, 2008 10:39am PDT

  This is awful. And what sucks is that women who are already in a traditionally male-centered business can't get the support they need in a crisis.

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  Posted by Rockie Thu May 8, 2008 11:22am PDT

  OMG, just yesterday I had a discussion with a young female coworker from another dept., she was confiding in me about the sexual harrassment she was induring from all the male workers in her dept. and the acceptance from all the female workers. She`s already got a claim going with the equal opportunity employment agency. I advised her to get a voice activated recorder to prove her claim to the Feds on exactly what is said, but not to use in the claim due to privacy issues. At least she will have something that can`t be disputed, hope I did right by her. What`s wierd is we just has harrassment training a few weeks ago. Seems like they took the training in reverse.

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  Posted by BEADBUNNY Thu May 8, 2008 11:28am PDT

  Her own fault... she wanted to be weak and she was...she has no one to blame but herself. Get over it.

  "Andrews hesitated to report him at all for fear of similar "career suicide" fallout."

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  Posted by RoniJoy Thu May 8, 2008 12:10pm PDT

  Wow, it is terrible that such things happen in this day and age. I have to disagree with Beadbunny!!! The news business is such a small comminuty, everyone know everyone else. I would think twice also about what would happen to my career further down he line.

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  Posted by CupCake Thu May 8, 2008 12:42pm PDT

  wow. i went through a similar thing. i worked at disneyland about a year or so ago.. and i encountered a siutation where i was sexually harassed day by day .. both verbally and physically it was funny at first just because of this guys peronality i ignored it, never ''flirted'' back, or whatever it was that he wouldve called it but it went so far as to me repeatedly telling him not to otuch me numerous times and him ignoring my requests. and grabbing the inside of my thigh in our break area while i was eating lunch and he wasnt even on a break, i reported it, wrote a statement and spoke to HR... come to find out... the guy gets ONE week of PAID SUSPENSION... wow, way to ''take sexual harassment SERIOUSLY'', eh Disney? FANTASTIC CORPORATION THAT DISNEY IS. psh. i was disgusted when i found out. ended up quitting that job.

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  Posted by nika Thu May 8, 2008 5:45pm PDT

  Wow Zeandra! I worked at a bank for 3 years. I had this co-worker who would constantly stare at me, call me nick-names and make jokes about my age since i was the youngest on staff. It got so far as to him pinching my waist and grabbing my shoulders every time he walked by me! He would even rest his head on my shoulder so that my face was close to his! I never flirted back, smiled, or gave him ANY sign that i was into him. And get this, he was married! I tried telling him to stop in a kind way, since i was known as the sweet and quiet one at work. When my boy friend found out though, he wanted to take action, i quit my job b4 things got outta hand. I hated it, but never said anything for the same reason as Zeandra, it was his personality--flirtatious, Latin type...

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  Posted by sharenanny Thu May 8, 2008 8:07pm PDT

  Yes, I was told to wear something tight fitting one time when big shots were coming to the work place. Also, this same man also could never talk to my face, always talked to my boobs.

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  Posted by Laissez-Faire Thu May 8, 2008 10:46pm PDT

  I understand the problems with blowing the whistle. I had a supervisor who made sexist remarks and he had worked with the city government almost 30 years. I had only been there 5 years. One of the male officers remarked that he ironed his shirt and scorched it, and the supervisor said "You iron your own uniform? Isn't that what your wife is supposed to do? Unlike (Laissez-Faire) who thinks she has to work in a man's job, ironing is woman's work". He made nasty comments about women drivers, and that the tailoring for women's uniforms cost the city more because the uniforms were meant for a man. Another officer was continually trying to get me to meet him for drinks after work, and would manage to brush up against me and whisper that we need to get to know each other better; he was married. I continually told him I wasn't interested, and I finally reported both of them. Needless to say, I ended up without a job, and black-balled.

  I went back to college to obtain a higher degree, and continued to be turned down when I applied for jobs. I ended up moving to another state, and accepting a job I was overqualified for. I eventually obtained a better position and dealt with sexual harassment again but kept it to myself.

  Sexual harassment classes are now given in nearly all jobs, however is not an effective deterrent. Some men still have the cave man mentality, and some women do not make it easier on those of us who were actively dealing with sexual harassment by making false claims. The Twenty-first Century workforce for women is still unacceptable. We can and do many jobs that were once considered a "man's job" yet have to put up with a lot of 'bull' and work twice as hard as the men to keep it. That sometimes will backfire because then men think you are trying to prove you're better then they are, and that will cause strife in the workplace. Therefore I see it as "The harder we try to move ahead, the 'behind-er' we get".

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  Posted by up too late Thu May 8, 2008 11:16pm PDT

  I have filed 2 sexual harassment claims in my 3 years of being employed as a professional. One was on behalf of another woman when I witnessed something inappropriate and the other was on behalf of myself when some creep who is in the role of a professional couldn't control his eyeballs. In both cases, my company handled the situation well, but there was no touching or flirting involved, just socially retarded boys who don't realize they're not in college anymore. I'm not so sure how the situation would be handled if it were more serious, but I'm not afraid to stand up for myself, and I would encourage anyone else to do the same. There are people who blame the girl for "bringing it on herself" but men need to be accountable for their behavior.

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  Posted by Rockie Fri May 9, 2008 1:11am PDT

  Do any of you have advice I could pass on to my coworker from my earlier post? I`m hoping I don`t lead her through the wrong path. I happen to be a male superviser in an other dept. The general manager, or the biggest cheese of all, is one of the culprits. She`s an attractive early 20`s female. I am at another location so am unable to witness and monitor the deeds.

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