Adrienne Lawrence - Staying In The Game: The Playbook for Beating Workplace Sexual Harassment

H ELLO ! Q UICK QUESTI ON FOR YOU: Youve grinded for years to get your degree (or degrees), and now youre in the professional world, informed and fierce, looking to conquer accordingly. Youve read about how to negotiate pay, navigate office politics, and dress for successbut whats your game plan for beating sexual harassment?

Sure, youve had annoying experiences at past summer jobs or filler positions. But those jobs were disposable, just part of the tattered path to your dream career. Now youre finally here!... But unfortunately, so is sexual harassment. You may want to get used to that dirty little term, as its a reality for any professionalespecially working women. If you dont have a game plan in place, sexual harassment could be devastating for youyour career, financial well-being, mental health, and much more.

Do you think sexual harassment wont happen to you? I wish that were true, but running into a harasshole is all but certain. At least 81 percent of women report experiencing workplace sexual harassment at some point in their careers, 77 percent of whom have experienced verbal harassment, more than 50 percent have been touched, and at least 60 percent received unwanted sexual attention or coercion.

Being harassed can be extremely upsetting and isolatingeven traumatizing, as most women never even report the situation to their employer but ultimately just leave the job. Thats junk. We can all agree that no professional goes to college for five years just to do a cost-benefit analysis between giving up ass and staying employed. Yet so many professionals targeted for harassment think they must do just that. Even if youre fortunate enough never to be targeted, simply being a bystander can be hazardous professionally, financially, and psychologically.

No one escapes sexual harassment unscathed. Its everywhereno matter your profession. Whether youre working in STEM, media, marketing, or education, you need to know how to get a handle on it. Your professional futureyour economic independencehinges on your knowledge of how to navigate this social ill because its not going away anytime soon.

Despite being outlawed since before Keanu Reeves was born back in 64, workplace sexual harassment is still an everyday part of the matrix. Recently, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center called workplace sexual harassment one of the most widespread and pervasive problems in U.S. society. But its not an epidemic. Sexual harassment is endemica natural and enduring aspect of womens work lives. Many academics and researchers have made this observation, and many women continue to live it.

The #MeToo movement, started in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke and ignited in 2017 by Hollywood actors, has been monumental. Bolstered by voices of strong survivors and devoted journalists, #MeToo has brought important issues to the forefront and created opportunities to speak up about sexual misconduct in all aspects of life. But theres still a lot of work to do, particularly in the workplace.

HEADS-UP!

The contribution journalists have made to the #MeToo movement and the reckoning thats followed cannot be understatedand must never be forgotten.

Throughout this playbook, the first time an allegation of misconduct is discussed, the journalist who broke the story and the news outlet will be noted in-text or in parentheses.

Please remember those names, for those individuals are just as worthy of praise as the survivors who bravely spoke out, the plaintiffs who fiercely fought, and the passionate attorneys who stood by their side.

The fact remains that society doesnt protect women in the workforce. The laws can be super limiting, the agencies that monitor workplace sexual harassment have a bunch of nonsense hurdles, and management and human resources departments are either looking out for the company or trying to preserve the status quo. All said, you need to have your own back and be unapologetic about it.

Ive had my own back for a while now. From car dealerships to classrooms to law firms to sports newsrooms, Ive worked at tons of dude-dominated places, occasionally losing jobs along the way because I was running from ol boys or pushing back against their club rules. Over the course of my many careers, Ive come across horrendous mentors and hit professional land mines, trusted coworkers who turned out to be toxic, and taken jobs and advice that turned out to be terrible. Ive filed a lawsuit to make change. Ive been lied about in the media and mobbed on social media. Ive been unwilling to turn my head and unwilling to give head. Ive really done it all. Now, building off those crazy and creepy experiences, and drawing from enlightening empirical studies, interviews with exceptional individuals, and chats with informed academics, I share with you what Ive learned along this jarring and life-changing journey. In this playbook, I give you