I can completely understand being a supervisor and worrying that a vindictive or sue-happy employee will look for every opportunity to take something out of context and falsely accuse you of sexual harassment. It seems like something that could happen and it probably does, if rarely. I don’t imagine such cases win often if they get to court, since it’s hard enough to win a legitimate case unless it’s quite blatant and recurring with evidence that’s hard to dispute.
On the other hand, I work in a very hierarchical profession in which sexual harassment is rampant in some places between (usually male) senior people and their young (usually female) supervisees working to establish their careers. The victims feel helpless knowing that if they report it, they will be ignored by the higher-ups who are more concerned about keeping the super-important senior person around and protecting the institution’s reputation than about protecting the victim. If they do have evidence and pursue disciplinary action within the system or a civil lawsuit, they know they are throwing away their chances at a career in their chosen field they’ve spent many years studying and working toward. Some tolerate the advances, humiliation and worse with good-natured self-loathing in order to get that dream job. Some leave or, if they’re lucky, manage to transfer elsewhere. Of many such situations I know of, only one reported it (and I don’t think she sued). She knows her career is probably ruined over it, but no longer cares.
So in my experience, the number of false reports/lawsuits is not even close to real cases that go unreported, and I feel quite sure the statistics will bear that out if you care to do some research. I don’t imagine harassment is nearly as common in more democratic or female-dominated industries, but I doubt they get a lot of false reports either. I think the overblown myth of falsely reported sexual harassment, rape, etc. for money as a common occurrence is a dangerous one that discredits real victims and scares them away from reporting.
Wonder if Lorraine’s not aiming for Drew’s job, but Mr. Payne’s, knowing full well that he’ll abuse the webcams to stare at Lila’s boobs and then use it as evidence for a sexual harassment claim. Wouldn’t blame her.
I can completely understand being a supervisor and worrying that a vindictive or sue-happy employee will look for every opportunity to take something out of context and falsely accuse you of sexual harassment. It seems like something that could happen and it probably does, if rarely. I don’t imagine such cases win often if they get to court, since it’s hard enough to win a legitimate case unless it’s quite blatant and recurring with evidence that’s hard to dispute.
On the other hand, I work in a very hierarchical profession in which sexual harassment is rampant in some places between (usually male) senior people and their young (usually female) supervisees working to establish their careers. The victims feel helpless knowing that if they report it, they will be ignored by the higher-ups who are more concerned about keeping the super-important senior person around and protecting the institution’s reputation than about protecting the victim. If they do have evidence and pursue disciplinary action within the system or a civil lawsuit, they know they are throwing away their chances at a career in their chosen field they’ve spent many years studying and working toward. Some tolerate the advances, humiliation and worse with good-natured self-loathing in order to get that dream job. Some leave or, if they’re lucky, manage to transfer elsewhere. Of many such situations I know of, only one reported it (and I don’t think she sued). She knows her career is probably ruined over it, but no longer cares.
So in my experience, the number of false reports/lawsuits is not even close to real cases that go unreported, and I feel quite sure the statistics will bear that out if you care to do some research. I don’t imagine harassment is nearly as common in more democratic or female-dominated industries, but I doubt they get a lot of false reports either. I think the overblown myth of falsely reported sexual harassment, rape, etc. for money as a common occurrence is a dangerous one that discredits real victims and scares them away from reporting.