a letter written to women about sexual harassment:

My response to a letter written to women about sexual harassment: 

READ THE LETTER FIRST. THEN READ MY RESPONSE

http://thelowerfrequency.com/2011/08/04/my-letter-to-women-about-sexual-harassment/ 

(this is a dope site, you should sign up) 

First and foremost I want to take the time to say thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully think out how to address this subject. One that is not talked about nor discussed on both side of the spectrum-why you might be asking? SOCIALIZATION, this is a key factor in how we all interact with each other. This is what makes us all a part of society how we interact with each other, some of us have actually taken the time and learned how to socially interact in a way that does not leave either party feeling like that are less than. 

You posed some very insightful question that I would like to take the time to answer because as a woman and a women who has been in positions of power this is an important topic for me, especially since I go out and speak to young girls out there about their bodies and how they interact with the world.

"Speaking to many of you, why do you remain quiet for so long?"

 I do not think it is about taking or being quiet for so long it is really about knowing how to properly address the situation and to make sure that there is actual "harassment" taken place. Most of the time in work place women are not sure how to respond to men who may be flirting with them (let me be clear, WANTED FLIRTATION) so they stir clear and play it cool to watch what their counter part may or may not do, it is only when the flirtation is reciprocate that a man should respond in kind in a NON SEXUAL WAY. However, there is something else that happens when a women in the work places notices and or feels that the flirtation is unwanted. Her body language changes and she thwarts the efforts of said male. This is where the "I don't know" what I don't know actions come into play. Going to HR, leaves you open to unwanted advances, and addressing the issues leaves you open to having the individual turn the table. When it happened to me I did not notice it was a problem until I spoke to a friend about the situation. 

Here is what I did. A mixture of all three: 

1. I made sure that the record feature on my phone was accessible - it is illegal to record someone without there knowledge so I let it be know that I record all my interactions and that I would have the recorder with me at all times. 

2. Whenever an advance was made I would repeat what he said to me to him, in the form of a question i.e. Did you just ask me or suggest that I do that follow...why? you may ask SEE #1

3. DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT every time I was in this person's presence every time he said something and then I transcribed all of this, had it notarized (LOTS OF FREE PLACES) and turn in a copy to both HR as well as the individual every month until something was done. I also requested conflict mediation versus an investigation. 

"Do your fears paralyze you?"

I wasn't paralyzed so to speak I wasn't informed. So I started to do research on what I could do you can simply google anything these days, I took the position of NOT being the victim and took matters in my own and got smart about how to respond to the harassment

"Or do you not want to seem like the “troublemaker” at your own expense?"

Not sure how to answer that my personality does not allow me to not be free in anyway so I look at adversity (harassment in this case) and figured out how to knock it down, not ignore it not walk around it but to actually eliminate the issue without it reoccurring. 

I hope that was informative as well as began to answer your questions? 

That "Crazy girl from THE BROOKLYN"