Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

Cindy, North Carolina 

     In 1974, I was a 17 year old young woman who was in the process of getting a divorce.  I had married in rebellion and to get out of the house.  Of course, the marriage did not work out, but I had a 2 year old to take care of by myself.  My husband took the car and left us to fend for ourselves.  He refused to give me any financial support at all. 

     I was working in a male oriented business revolving around cars. 

     The owner of the company where I was employed had numerous vehicles parked in the parking lot.  Since he allowed a few other male employees to use company vehicles after business hours, I asked him if I could use one of the cars as I no longer had a way to and from work. 

     He told me that I could certainly use one of the cars if I would sleep with him in return. 

     I was floored as he had never shown any harassment behaviors before this moment. 

     I was in a vulnerable position as I knew I would lose my job if I did not comply and I had a baby to take care of.  I felt I had no choice but to agree to his terms.  His wife worked in the office also and I had to see her every day and walk past her as my boss made excuses as to why he was taking me with him somewhere. 

     I talked to one coworker about this.  He told me that when our boss was interviewing a woman for a job, his grading system was based on sexy she was.  He told me that I was not the first to suffer and I’m sure I wasn’t the last. 

     In 1974, there was no prosecuting someone for sexual harassment.  I did not speak with anyone else until I was much older and felt safe. 

     I have lived with shame, even though I know it wasn’t my fault.  He took advantage of a vulnerable, very young woman.  There was nothing sexual about this at all.  It was about power…checkmate. 

     I began looking for another job immediately but had to sleep with him 4 times, before I was able to get out of there. 

     It is only recently that I have realized that I have been severely affected by that time.  I knew I was angry, but I didn’t understand the damage until just this week.  I wish that I could stand up to him and make him responsible for what he has done to me, but too much time has passed. 

    I will now work hard to bring attention to this subject to help others and to bring healing to my broken spirit.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Effects of Sexual Harassment. 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.