Last week in the New York Post, columnist Cindy Adams shared advice for victims of sexual harassment. “Deal with it.”
Adams writes, “Calling a lawyer to say, “I’m suing because this guy laid his hands on me”? Oh, please, if that’s his only part he laid on you, get some nail extensions and inform Larry Lothario next time you’ll rake him like the leaves.”
When it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace, conventional corporate wisdom, sadly, still says woman who bring claims against coworkers should be prepared to walk away from their jobs, and sometimes their careers. Those who call out the offenders can be pegged as undesirables in the corporate world. But advocating a woman just deal with it, is not the answer. Consider this: in 2009 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 12,696 cases of sexual harassment and resolved 11,948 of them.
Sexual harassment can be devastating. Even Adams remembers the names of the people who harassed her – at ages ten and 16. How well has she dealt with it?
Adams gets one thing right – “we’ve all been there. Those things happened to every one of us in our earlier days.” How we deal with it is an individual decision. But brushing off the harasser as just “some slob whose hand wandered where it shouldn’t” is not the solution. Unwanted sexual advantages are not okay. Not at work, not at school, not on the street, not anywhere. Deal with that.
Thanks Linda. Attitudes like Adams’ are not helpful.
Liz – Thank you for calling her out. Sheesh! You’d think human beings would all know how to treat each other respectfully by now.