Reply
Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,346
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

@Kachina624 wrote:

I find an accusation against Tom Brokow very hard to believe.


@Kachina624

 

Why?   Because he speaks well on camera?  How do any of us know what anyone on camera is like in real life?

 

Men, especially powerful men, did things because they could get away with it .... didn't you see the Access Hollywood conversation tape?


=============

@Tinkrbl44, you asked me if I had read anything on this subject.  May I ask you if you saw the letter signed by 60 female co-workers of Tom Brokaw? There is no indication of anything but professionalism on his part.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,103
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

I predict more will be coming out too. So many men can’t keep it zipped and now they are being held accountable. It’s about time.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,453
Registered: ‎02-02-2015

Women have always had a judicial remedy; not just the hr department.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,371
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I'm glad your daughter was so determined when it happened to her. 

 

It happened to me in 1986.  I told the HR Officer and was told "boys will be boys."  I never said another word about it.  i never even told my husband.  i lived with the shame and comments.  I also started wearing ultra conservative, fully covering, clothes I wore to eliminate any possible movement or exposure.  I never exposed anything before, not even a hint of cleavage or leg, but I became intent on protecting myself the best I could.  Fyi, I worked for this huge international corporation for 39 years before retiring.  Luckily, I was able to transfer to other departments where I succeeded without being harassed.

 

It's only been the last year or two that women have begun to feel safer about speaking up.  There is a lot of retaliation when a woman reports sexual harassment or sexual assault at work.  Few workplaces were willing to fire someone over it. I still think that's the case. The accused is almost always in a position of authority and is successful there.   HR looks at that and then the lower ranking woman.  HR is there to protect the company, not necessarily the employees.

 

Our state legislature had 2 serious sexual harassment complaints in the last year.  

1.  Our governor (a woman) made excuses over and over and over for the first guy because he held a leadership position in the controlling (her) party in the legislature.  The victim won over $1 Million in the court case for it and the governor still made excuses.  He finally quit when video of him kissing a lobbyist in a bar went viral.  He should have been fired.

2.  The second man was a friend of the governor.  Many knew about the allegations and turned a blind eye.  She finally fired him.  The next day, the victim's letter detailing  24 explicit allegtions was released.  Interesting coincidence?  I don't think so.

3.  There has been an uproar in our state about these.  The governor is up for re-election so is finally taking a harder stand.  If she wasn't up for election, she would have continued to turn a blind eye to it all.

 

Please don't assume those who don't speak up are faking it.  99.99% are legitimate though they were unable to speak up before.  They are victims.  They deserve compassion and patience.  

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@CalminHeart  she was humilated, and very frightened, too. It wasn't a walk in the park for her, but , they couldn't pull their nasty actions on anyone else 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,955
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

When I was 19 and a college sophomore, a close relative asked me if I would be interested in working her part time job during the summer so she could have the time with her school aged kids.

I was to bea “place holder” and her boss, who was the father of a former classmate of mine, owned the business, a commercial store.

I felt the responsibility of both keeping my relative’s job and doing acceptable work for my friend’s dad.

One day a large group of the owners friends came into the shop, and a big guy grabbed me, and fondled me, apparently for the entertainment of his obnoxious friends.

The owner watched “the fun” looked embarrassed, and didn’t intervene.

I was mortified and repulsed, but after what seemed a year, the guy let go of me.

I never mentioned the event to a soul until recently, because

1-My father would have gone to the store and raised a ruckus which

2- Would have cost my relative her job and

3-would have cost ME my job and

4-potentially impacted on the boss’s business (which was the LEAST of my concerns but still......)

 

My point is that at least some of these stories of personal violation, however minor or blatant or reportable they may seem at first hearing, may have little tendrils of secondary plot that make them more complex than what is obvious. I still remember the awfulness of my little “event” with horror and revulsion, and assume others can feel the same way.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,140
Registered: ‎06-19-2010

@PinkSunset, Excellent post!

 


@PinkSunset wrote:

the thing that upsets me about coming forward decades later is this. Women in the workplace, all workplaces, were subjected to lots of unfairness, pay equality, intimindation, yes, even harassment but for many we (I) needed a job to raise kids. We had to put up with a lot of what would enver occur today.

 

HR was of no help in the early days because as someone else said, (I worked in a hospital) doctors were reported on mnay occasions and they never, ever lost their jobs. The women had to transfer, take a sum of money to "shut up" left their jobs. All unfair, but reality AT THE TIME. How about all the women back in those days who were powerful (think Working Girl) and did outrageous things to their assistants who had to shut up and do their jobs if they wanted to keep them.

 

Now, in this century, we've moved forward, HR does take things seriously and every workplace has a statement about "no retaliation" if someone comes forward to report a wrongdoing. So it gets better as times go on.

 

But the thing is, the past was what it was and why does anyone now think they are heroes or are doing women a favor by reporting something that may or may not be true and cannot be proven? Women today don't need that help anymore. And going after high profile media types seems just like an axe to grind or some kind of personal retaliation. It does not strengthen any modern day woman's right to report any kind of wrongdoing. HR is her champion now.

 

And yes, I do know from experience that women's careers suffered in many ways from rebuking someone's advances but this latest story grinds my gears. When she said something like "I felt isolated and humiliated". Isolated from whom? Didn't she go on to have a very good career all these years? I'm sick of this whole movement trying to go back in history to ruin someone;s life. 


 

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to be happy”. (By Nightbirde, singer of the song, It’s Ok)
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,681
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

NBC has said it is not launching an investigation.  really?  what's up with that?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

@ValuSkr wrote:

I wonder if Walter Cronkite ever did anything we would consider sexual harrassment.  I guess none of his would-be's are still around to tell about it.


 

I'm guessing if given enough time, something will come out about him as well.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

@Reever wrote:

@Elri  wrote:

 

 

Now, I have to ask myself if there a man in this world I would completely trust?    Ummmmmmmm, no.

 

 


 

I trust Dan Wheeler. Hard to imagine Dan cheating on his late wife.


 

I'm not sure how to address this without the post coming down, but there were some on air interactions late in his career at Q that disturbed me.