Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

I was embarressed and ashamed and had no idea what to do

P, New York, New York

I’ve been a flight attendant with a major airline for 9 yrs and the sexual harassment incident I experienced came from a pilot (big surprise). I had a 24hr layover in Paris and the 3 pilots planned on having dinner together and invited the flight attendants. One of the flt attendants had never been to Paris and asked me to go with her and the pilots to dinner. We stopped at a cafe before dinner to have some wine. The Captain talked continuously about his wife and daughters. We were all sharing personal information. When we went to the restaurant I sat next to the Captain. Shortly after we ordered I felt his hand on my knee. I was startled and jumped. He pulled it away but a few minutes later he did it again, but this time he started to massage my knee. I immediately pulled away and turned my body away from him. I was embarrassed and ashamed and had no idea what to do. This was a supposedly happily married man with daughters, but just like all the other stories on this site, he made me really uncomfortable.

Although it never progressed further (and isn’t close to being as bad as the stories on this site), I am still mad at myself for not saying or doing something about his inappropriate behavior. After telling my story to several friends/coworkers, I have vowed to never let that kind of behavior go unnoticed again. And after reading these stories and watching “North Country,” I will support anyone who experiences sexual harassment at work. It’s despicable behavior that should never be tolerated. Good luck to all who are pursuing their cases!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “I was embarressed and ashamed and had no idea what to do”

Rachel Says:
December 8th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
whats “North Country”?
Ceara Says:
December 9th, 2006 at 12:07 am
North Country is a movie based on the case of Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines which was a landmark sexual harassment case that set a number of precedents. The film was released last year, and is currently getting heavy play on cable. It’s a great movie.

Check out the SHS article on the case and the movie:

http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/JensonVsEvelethMines.html
ebonie young Says:
November 29th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
hello im ebonie and i heard your story that was terrible and i think that you should of said something because if you would of said something granetee you that i wouldn’t have happened the second time because he would have the twice as embrassment as you did the next something like this happen to you i believe you should stannd up for yourself