Sexual Harrassment, I don't have to take it.

Although I may layer the following true scenarios with wit and humor, I actually do believe I am experiencing sexual harrassment and this is my way of documenting it (in addition to dealing with it in a constructive way -- since, apparently, my employers are not concerned and not willing to help).

You may remember PSAs that were aired a while back -- don't remember when. I just know that they dealt with sexual harrassment, and the woman would eventually say (to the harrasser): "This is sexual harrassment, and I don't have to take it." At the time, it was funny -- okay, it still is -- it was a corny PSA. But, the problem really does exist.

I thought, when I entered the workforce, that we were much more progressive now. I thought that men, even if they wanted to sexually harrass someone, even if they were backwards enough to think it was alright to do, would be scared shitless to actually do it, since they could be taken to court. Well, not the case, apparently.
From the very beginning, men made inappropriate comments to me. In the beginning, I thought maybe it was because I was just a kid, didn't have any experience, so they thought they could get away with it. Maybe, the fact that I was a woman seemed to be all I had going for me. But, four years later, I'm a little more accomplished. I realize I shouldn't have allowed inappropriate comments then, but I certainly shouldn't allow them now.

I also believed that my employers, particularly female employer, would support and protect me. HA! What a joke! My employer touts her educational and professional background in Adult Education and Human Resources and ran a whole department (as Sr. VP) at a major organization. However, she has responded to my concern about a particular client in a most unprofessional way, telling me to ignore him or joke about it, implying it was something I was wearing, making a joke about it in front of ANOTHER (male) CLIENT!!!! Why doesn't she just start sexually harrassing me herself? I mean, she has pretty much covered the whole gamut of things you're "not supposed to do when your employee tells you they are being sexually harrassed." I am appalled. I would think that, at least as a woman, she could relate or be empathetic. Or, that as a professional and a mentor, she would at least offer something more than ridicule and snide, bitchy comments.

Oh, and this client, who is a supreme pig, has grabbed my arm forcefully (in jest, of course) and held it while I tried to pull away, has taken pictures of me during on-location and in-studio shoots and blown up to 8x10s!!, referred to being female as a "genetic impairment," made more than one obscene reference in any one given interaction and last, but not least, commented several times on my legs -- not to mention the countless glances which did not go unnoticed on my part.

So, now he's dangling a carrot of another project in front of my employers, and I truly believe they are willing (since they have thus far been willing) to overlook the situation. He knows this. He knows he is a client. So, he can behave in ways that are unprofessional and we'd be smart to ignore that, because the client is always right. Bullshit! Whoever made up that BS line was willing to sell their soul to make a profit. The client isn't always right. And, no matter what, the client is never right about sexual harrassment. Employers should aways protect their employees -- if not out of the goodness of their hearts, simply because they could be held legally responsible for ignoring it.

Then again, what can you expect from swingers. Not that every business owner is a swinger. Just some who will remain unmentioned -- who think it is permissible to flagrantly use their sexuality/bodies in anyway they wish -- maybe even to advance themselves in a profession. It doesn't have to be overt -- you don't have to sleep with someone. You can just laugh and flirt and carry on. After all, you're willing to sleep with other married men if the couple cares to swing. Why not a little whoring at work? Show a little cleavage, get a little promotion -- some day run your own #*$&#$& company -- and laugh at someone for overreacting to sexual harrassment.

Well, this is sexual harrassment, and damnit, I don't have to take it. There, I said it.