Dear Lit Loves,
Hi! Greetings! I am in the midst of launching the marketing campaign for my recently published memoir entitled Brave Soul Rising: Tales From The Trenches of An Uncharmed Life. Okay, I wrote it under my pen name of Grace Sutherlin because I've always wanted a pen name and I do like some inkling of privacy. It was absolutely fabulous to publish this book without any constraints or ties to an agent or publisher. I was able to do the entire book from beginning idea, to rough outline, to chapter editing, to cover design, and finally now, sold book. And yes, I did it my way!! I should have done this years ago. Seriously.
Okay, now to my post for the day which relates to the news today that former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson is suing Fox News CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. I've been in a similar situation on many an occasion unfortunately. I worked at a company mostly comprised of men where a male employee organized a strip show for one of the company's founders. It took place in the company lab. It was interesting fielding phone calls while this was happening. How to explain the whereabouts of most of the men on the staff was rather awkward as calls arrived with requests to speak to this employee or that employee. When one male employee's wife called asking to speak with her husband I really wanted to tell her what the ignoramus was in the midst of at that particular moment. Additionally, I had a male employee who actually arrived at my desk in the reception area of the company building and pulled the slit in my skirt apart to examine the height of the cut in the fabric. Nasty bastard. And when one of the company founders rubbed his hand all over my leg at the company Christmas party which his wife was also attending, I felt the urge to remove his hand and tell him that the only place it belonged currently was on his own body where the sun don't shine, buddy. I kid you not. I reported all this after I eventually left the company, but nothing (to my knowledge) was ever done to enforce consequences for this most unprofessional behavior. Actually, the human resource representative I reported this delinquent behavior to who was also female actually stated, "Well, I know we would like to horse whip these men, but that's just not possible." And I've also experienced an assistant principal and other male teachers make remarks about my clothing, shoes, and general appearance on regular occasions. Why does this keep happening? I mean, if you report it as I did it just seems to get swept under the rug. Or maybe those that should be holding these men accountable are choosing to look the other way or continue to repeat the same old tired line of "boys will be boys". Not Acceptable.
So I applaud you Gretchen Carlson. Sue, sue, sue away and I hope you win because until a woman or women find victory in having men who harass women in the workplace held properly accountable, the rest of us females lower on the totem pole will most likely continue to be victims of this kind of vulgar and despicable behavior. I say there should be zero tolerance of sexual harassment in the workplace and it's about time for some accountability and major change in the work environment, ladies! (By the way I detail some of what happened to me in my new book Brave Soul Rising: Tales From The Trenches of An Uncharmed Life). Ladies, stand up to this aggressive, piggish behavior and when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace say, "Not On My Watch!!"
Till my next post.....
Grace
(Amy)
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