4 ms·

>I'm glad her experiences are such that she hasn't encountered these barriers, but other people have, and they need these words and spaces. This is what I inte

>I'm glad her experiences are such that she hasn't encountered these barriers, but other people have, and they need these words and spaces. This is what I intended to post; thanks for sharing your experience. I'm a gay Indian male living in Canada. I have never experienced marginalization for being Indian, but at my previous engagement, I experienced quite a bit of harassment and discrimination for being queer. Until that point, I didn't think much of what female colleagues were going through but began to notice a slew of inappropriate remarks (most famously: "Are we sure he's not post-op? I thought only women get migraines." from the CEO) and discriminatory behaviours (boss 'rating' female colleagues with the general response of nervous laughter). I think that you hit the nail on the head - many people have to either directly experience or observe these issues before they become legitimate. The author has been extremely fortunate.

sremani 9y ago
It's important not to dismiss her experience as being extremely lucky. The thing is, there are lot of women like her, who were not harassed at their work places or have "grown-up" work environments with decent managers and HR policies.
- kristineberth 9y ago
  Frankly I'd be surprised if she had never been harassed in some way. I know a grand total of zero women a decade into their careers who have literally never experienced some kind of harassment. Without being able to speak for her, I can surmise that maybe she just doesn't feel it needs to define her.
  - SomeCallMeTim 9y ago
    > Frankly I'd be surprised if she had never been harassed in some way. 1. She grew up in Denmark 2. She works in the UK From what I've heard, both are far more progressive and egalitarian than the US. If the people you know are based in the US, that could be the distinction. I think the problems here are far worse.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      That was my take on it too. It's also why I think her post missed the mark for me; she simply doesn't have experience with what she's writing about, because she's living a different society that doesn't experience the problem on the same scale, so her proposed solutions don't carry much weight to workers in Silicon Valley.
    - refurb 9y ago
      According to this survey, Sweden and Denmark are the worst for sexual harassment in the EU. 80-100% report being sexually harassed in Denmark. [1]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-and-denmark-have-highest-number-of-sexual-assaults-in-europe-a6800901.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-and-de...
  - brighteyes 9y ago
    One survey found 40% of women never experienced harassment, http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/survey-sexual-harassment-tech/ http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/survey-sexual-harassment-tech/ Of course every survey may be flawed or mistaken, and we need to read carefully how they define harassment, etc. But based on that survey and others, and my own anecdotal experiences, I don't think we should be surprised when a woman says she never experienced sexual harassment. This is a large industry, with lots of different cultures and experiences.

sremani 9y ago

It's important not to dismiss her experience as being extremely lucky. The thing is, there are lot of women like her, who were not harassed at their work places or have "grown-up" work environments with decent managers and HR policies.

kristineberth 9y ago
Frankly I'd be surprised if she had never been harassed in some way. I know a grand total of zero women a decade into their careers who have literally never experienced some kind of harassment. Without being able to speak for her, I can surmise that maybe she just doesn't feel it needs to define her.
- SomeCallMeTim 9y ago
  > Frankly I'd be surprised if she had never been harassed in some way. 1. She grew up in Denmark 2. She works in the UK From what I've heard, both are far more progressive and egalitarian than the US. If the people you know are based in the US, that could be the distinction. I think the problems here are far worse.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    That was my take on it too. It's also why I think her post missed the mark for me; she simply doesn't have experience with what she's writing about, because she's living a different society that doesn't experience the problem on the same scale, so her proposed solutions don't carry much weight to workers in Silicon Valley.
  - refurb 9y ago
    According to this survey, Sweden and Denmark are the worst for sexual harassment in the EU. 80-100% report being sexually harassed in Denmark. [1]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-and-denmark-have-highest-number-of-sexual-assaults-in-europe-a6800901.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-and-de...
- brighteyes 9y ago
  One survey found 40% of women never experienced harassment, http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/survey-sexual-harassment-tech/ http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/survey-sexual-harassment-tech/ Of course every survey may be flawed or mistaken, and we need to read carefully how they define harassment, etc. But based on that survey and others, and my own anecdotal experiences, I don't think we should be surprised when a woman says she never experienced sexual harassment. This is a large industry, with lots of different cultures and experiences.