I am a young lady aged 22 and I work in an all-male office. My challenge is that the men I work with are always talking dirty. I have always ignored it when they talked about their concubines in my presence.
But I have recently had a problem with one of them joking about making me one his concubines bosting that he can’t do with just one woman. They all laughed about it but I felt offended and they seem to feel that I don’t deserve respect. What do I do, I am no longer enjoying the environment I work in? – Stacey
Dear Stacey
That is called a hostile environment. Such talk is classified as sexual harassment – and it seems to have been accepted by the harassers and the harassed as part of their life. That environment is certainly not good for you; you need to report your case to the management.
Your company should have a sexual harassment policy in place. Your superiors will tell you about it and you may lodge a formal complaint. Things need to be corrected and be guarded against; any company that wishes to grow cannot tolerate the behaviour of perverts in a working environment.
You need to sit down with your bosses and alert them to what is happening so that they take action to stop it and make it a safe environment for you. You also need to speak out – especially when such insults are directed at you personally and specifically.
The policy should protect you but you need to let it be known that you do not accept their dirty comments and you don’t appreciate their beer hall talk at the workplace. It may make you unpopular but you would rather have no one smile at you than having them getting into your garment. – Aunty Lisa
Post published in: Lifestyle