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For tech entrepreneur
Gesche, 30, it was an out-
of-the-blue, late-night email from
a male co-worker, that said: “Take
off your underwear, put it in a bag
and leave it on my desk.”
For bartender Tiffany, 25, it
was an inappropriate remark from
a male customer: “I know where
to get some really good coke if
you want to do a line off my dick.”
(Yes, he really said that.)icture this: You’re a young female
doctor, just learning the ropes at
a major hospital, when a senior
colleague kisses you, touches your
breasts and asks you if you’d like
to have sex with him.
You’re scared, vulnerable
and confused. But also outraged.
So you go to your boss to report
being sexually harassed. He says,
“What do you expect when you
dress the way you do?”
When you sue the hospital
you work at, you “win” $100,000
in damages, but it doesn’t much
matter because during the whole
process you spent $250,000 in
legal fees. You find you can’t get
a job in any public hospital – no
one will hire you.
And seven years after your
lawsuit has ended, a senior female
surgeon ref lects on the case and
tells the media, “I tell my trainees
that, if you are approached for sex,
probably the safest thing to do in
terms of your career is to comply
with the request.”
Sounds like it’s the stuff of
fiction, right? Unfortunately, it’s
not. It’s what actually happened
to Victoria-based Dr Caroline
Tan, and it’s sparked the sexual
harassment conversation that we
desperately needed to have.said to you at work?
What’s the grossest
thing anyone’s ever
And for bank teller Joanna,
28, it was her female supervisor
allegedly talking nonstop about
breasts and penises, as well as
graphically describing her sexual
encounters. “It didn’t feel like a
bank,” she says. “It was a hostile,
sexual environment. As a person,
it really degrades you.”
This is sexual harassment
in 2015, with more ways to creep
on someone at work than everbefore – and perhaps, also more
confusion about what’s off limits.
As the workplace starts to feel
more laid-back (your boss is your
Facebook friend, your co-workers
text you after hours, everyone in
the office meets for Friday arvo
drinks...), more subtle forms of
sexual harassment are taking a
psychological and economic toll
on women all across the country.
“With the advent of social
media, there is now a more casual
relationship between co-workers
and supervisors, and that creates
more opportunity for people to
find themselves crossing the line
between professional and more
unprofessional conduct,” explains
David Lowe, a San Francisco
employment lawyer.“Graphically
describing
sexual
acts he
fantasised
about”- 26-year-old
woman in retail
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