Katie* is one of three female paramedics who have shared their experiences of being “hounded” for sexual favours in return for passing training, getting a promotion or simply keeping their jobs.
Although these remarks were often dismissed as “jokes” or “banter”, Katie says, occasionally it shifted into a “monumental” abuse of power.
“Handjobs. Blowjobs. They were obsessed with blowjobs,” she says.
Once I made a mistake with a patient, and a colleague tried to blackmail me into having sex with him. It was horrendous. When I told him no, he said, “watch your back, because I could rape you”.
I don’t know how you change this culture. When posters saying “We Do Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment” were put on the doors in the ladies toilets, a man crossed out the “Not” and drew a penis next to a woman’s mouth.
This sounds like grounds for a lawsuit, not a news article. Make them pay (literally) for being assholes.
The rape threat should have been reported to the police when it happened imho
Doing via media won’t get anything done. If the org is really this bad, they are covering up and adjusting as we speak.
You can’t fix this shit via court of opinion. Pests don’t care.
The rape threat should have been reported to the police when it happened imho
There’s a better chance of that happening nowadays vs as little as a year ago. And “reporting” often bears a trauma of its own.
Five, ten years ago?
Buried.
There would still be a record of incident even if pigs do nothing.
Criminal accusations purely based on a story will never resonate with public since anyone can make accusations for any reason…
And then the reporter can enjoy their retaliatory unemployment and blacklisting, probably.
I am not directly familiar with the UK system but from everything I have seen, it has the same problems:
The defense against rape accusations is “she was a slut”. And when things are this institutionalized? You can get plenty of people who will gladly attest that the plaintiff came onto them too because they know that if the dominoes start toppling…
And in the off chance she gets justice AND comes out with any dignity? She is not officially on the industry shitlist because that would be wrong… But her career is more or less over. Because the rapists don’t want to hire her for obvious reasons. But even the “normal” people will be wary of “What if she decides something we do is bad?”.
No. The key to shit like this is to get the public shining a light on this first. Rather than going into a dark room and randomly spraying a bit of bug spray.
The defense against rape accusations is “she was a slut”.
In which jurisdiction?
“What if she decides something we do is bad?”
I remember coworkers talking about metoo and saying things like that or “what if she decides to report me for something <insert mundane action>”.
I always responded with “if you ever have to wonder if an action could be reported to the police, than maybe you should not do that, and if you are worried that a woman will report you, don’t hang out with that person”.
I never understood how this ever could be a worry.
This is the kind of shit that happens when citizens don’t have the right to self defense. In the USA a woman could kill a man in self defense if they started a rape attempt. Without legal access to some kind of weapons for self defense a woman will almost always be at a significant disadvantage in a physical confrontation with a man. I support every woman’s inherent right to self-defense against rapists, and governments should too.
Wow there are so many downvoters on here, it’s sad that you all want those poor women to have no protection from being raped. Where I’m from the things this article describes are unheard of, because rapists know they will face consequences.
So you’re saying that the appropriate response to office sexual harassment is to start shooting lecherous coworkers? I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but I don’t think you’ve thought this through.
Slow down Judge Dredd, having people killi each other with no need to provide proof or due process is not the happy world your brain is conjuring.
Pepper sprays and tasers exist and can also equalize the playing field with far fewer people dying.
How about we teach boys to not treat women as less than instead of forcing women to have to defend themselves from sexual abusers?
Nip that shit in the bud.
Absolutely. Spot on. Rape doesn’t exist in America and no American organizations could ever have a culture of abuse as described in this story.
Out of curiosity , what did you wear to Bill Cosby’s funeral? The same outfit you wore to Harvey Weinstein’s funeral?
I actually heard that people really believe that Hollywood is a haven for sexual predators and sexual abuse, including rape, is rampant throughout the American entertainment industry. Can you believe that?
Don’t they know the 2nd Amendment has eliminated both individual cases of rape and systemic sexual abuse?
Anywho, do you have any plans on watching USA Gymnastics this year?
That’s impossible, which you would know if you had read the comment I was replying to.
If you had read it, you would have learned that in America the 2nd amendment has prevented if not all, then the overwhelming majority, of all sexual assaults and rapes.
Which means that both men are dead.
This is the real reason that women were brought into the general work force.
No… Real reason is so they are making the rich money and families have to consume more.
This is just poorly socialized likely older “men” being sex pests.
In 1999 I had to work on site at a client’s London offices in order to prep them for Y2K. Never before or since have I seen such blatant misogyny nad sexual harassment at the workplace. Every office and every location I went to it was the same.
That experience deeply influenced my decisions when I decided to open satellite offices in London and Ireland and we have never had an incident.
Culture starts from the top.
Just out of curiosity, what are your policies regarding sexual misconduct/harassment?
My gender sucks.
The number of arsehole men is too damn high. Whenever I see or hear these stories my blood boils.
