On March 3rd, our group had the opportunity to meet with Glen Kendall, an attorney practicing in the area of employment law. Employment law is a broad category of law encompassing all areas of employee/employer relations. Within that is laws around sexual harassment in the workplace. This interview granted us another perspective on harassment in the workplace.

One thing mentioned by Mr. Kendall is the power imbalance that comes with the harassment. It is often an older, more senior member of the company harassing a more junior one. This gives the harasser power over their victim because they are afraid to report it out of fear it will damage their career. There were two main types of harassment Mr. Kendall described: “quid-pro-quo,” and “hostile work environment.” In the first, the harasser offers an opportunity for career gain in exchange for sexual favors. In the second it is done without wanting any specific thing in return other than making the victim uncomfortable.

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On February 21, our group had the honor to meet with the legendary Gloria Allred. She is an attorney known for taking high profile cases related to women’s rights or sexual harassment. One of her most famous cases is the Bill Cosby case, where she represented several of the women who alleged sexual assault against the comedian. Before meeting with Ms. Allred we watched a documentary about her on Netflix called “Seeing Allred.”

We discussed with her a lot of common patterns in “rape culture” and how she chooses her clients. She talked about how letting harassment go on in the workplace is such an unfair disadvantage because those in that position are often not able to do anything about it.

We were so lucky to have such an amazing opportunity to meet with Ms. Allred and we have learned so much from her.

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On February 18th, my group and several others had the opportunity to meet with Rebecca at the Paley Center for Media for a workshop on women’s perception in the media. We were brought to a theater and discussed various issues around body image. We discussed many questions including, “What in your life impacts your body image?” After the discussion, we watched several clips relating to women in media.

The videos ranged from music videos, to commercials, to tv show segments. There were some clips we were all very familiar with like the music video for Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time,” where Spears wears a sexualized schoolgirl outfit. There were also some unfamiliar ones like a segment from the 1965 sitcom, “Gidget.” In this scene Gidget (Sally Field) is objectified and manipulated by a group of boys on the beach.

We also compared two different female superheros from different times and their fighting styles. The first one was the 1970’s Wonder Woman played by Lynda Carter. She has an extremely sexualized and impractical uniform. When she fights, she pushes people and throws weak and deflectable blows. Even though she was the superhero, she was still just an aid used by the men that did most of the work. The second was Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). She turns gender norms on their head by saving a boy who says she can’t save him because she’s, “just a girl.” She has powerful attacks and gets hit back, something that never happened to Wonder Woman.

This workshop really showed how the portrayal of women in the media has an impact on people’s daily lives. It was a really fun opportunity to have a very important discussion that we don’t often have.

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On Wednesday, February 2nd, our group met with Allie’s father, Kevin Samuelson. As the CEO of Infor, he is aware of any sexual assault that happens in his company. He is very committed to making Infor a safe and productive environment.

Kevin mentioned that sexual assault is all about power, an older and more senior member of the company abusing a younger, more inexperienced one. He also mentioned that this dynamic is only increased when it comes to an older man abusing a younger woman. Although we cannot mention the details of the stories he shared, there have been several cases that he told us about. It seems to happen with one harasser multiple times and then it is (hopefully) found.

This interview was very helpful and gave us a lot of information on sexual harassment in the workplace.

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On Thursday, I presented with my social justice group about our topic. We had read a few articles on the issue of sexual harassment and assault. I was excited to share because I was proud of our research. My group did a good job on presenting and showing the severity of the facts we had found.

In the presentation, I shared the following personal reaction, “It’s important to me as someone who has been harassed on the street. I am also in multiple targeted demographics. This is a global issue. These alarming statistics aren’t as alarming when I think about all the stories I’ve heard and all I’ve seen in 14 years living in New York City.”

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