“Sexual harassment is really not about sex nor is sexual assault. It’s about power and the abuse of it,” says Stacey Pinkerton, someone with firsthand experience.
Pinkerton experienced workplace sexual harassment in the mid-1980s on several occasions. She is also one of the over 60 survivors of Bill Cosby, who was released from prison early in June 2021. Stacey was drugged and raped by Cosby and is featured in the 2022 Emmy-nominated documentary “We Need to Talk About Cosby” by W. Kamau Bell. She is also featured in the upcoming documentary series “The Case Against Cosby” by director Karen Wookey to be released October 2022.
Pinkerton is now an activist working to change the laws and abolish the statutes of limitations on sexual assault, which is the period of time after the crime was committed that a victim has to bring charges. She is also working as a crusader with the Consent Awareness Network (CAN) to define and codify “consent,” which is variable from state to state and impacts a victim’s ability to bring an effective case. Most states do not have a definition of consent in the law. Due to CAN’s efforts, the bill on consent has passed on the federal level in August 2022 and should be a matter of time for the states to follow suit.
The state of California recognizes the abuse of power by defining consent as a person who may be incapable of saying “no.” This incapability may be caused by terror, threat or drugs, and the inability to say the actual word “no” should not be misinterpreted as consent. Pinkerton says, “We always need to look at the influence of the offender in addition to words and actions. Whenever malicious intentions, force, fear or fraud are used by the offender which causes a victim to stay silent, that is not consent.” In Pinkerton’s situation with Cosby, she was drugged without her knowledge and remembers saying no, until she lost consciousness.
Pinkerton says, “I was 21 years old. Decades later, the memories and the trauma have remained fresh. One of the many issues I faced was a statute of limitations which did not allow any form of justice when I was ready to come forward. Like many women in the same situation, I was asked why I waited so long? At 21, I was afraid of not being believed and I did not have money to hire lawyers to defend me. In addition, I had family concerns, fear of media attention, fear of being stigmatized and fear about the rape culture in our society. But I did not remain silent. I told people but none of them were prepared to really hear what I shared against such a person of power. I now teach a workplace training course called Abuse of Power and I do public speaking as I work to change the laws around these painful, traumatic and illegal issues.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and the mass number of people working from home has not stopped sexual harassment from happening in the workplace.
Consider this example:
As a recent video meeting was about to start, attendees entered the virtual room. An executive commented to his executive assistant, “You know Julie, you really should wear your hair down like you used to at the office. It looks better that way.” The embarrassed assistant was mute and did not know how to respond. It’s hard to imagine female staffers commenting on their male colleague’s appearance in this way.
This is an example of abuse of power. Not all abuse of power involves actual touching or penetration but they all involve one powerful person exerting power over a person with lesser power. In the sexual assault case against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, he made it clear that if the actresses had sex with him, he’d have the power to make them huge movie stars. In other words, if they did not comply, he could ruin their careers.
Data shows that women are the primary targets of sexual harassment, and most are reluctant to speak about it. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported 27,000 cases of sexual harassment between 2018 and 2021. Cases actually went down in 2021 compared to 2020. One major contributor to this was the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that dominated the headlines in 2017 with the Weinstein case. The Cosby survivors were called “Jane Does” in 2005 and began making their situations public starting in 2014. Their efforts have kept sexual assault in the spotlight since then.
But only six of 50 states in America require sexual harassment training in companies. For the remainder of states, training is optional. The six states that require training are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine and New York.
Like most things, money is a deciding and motivating factor to what kind of training a company offers. Corporate lawyers are generally in favor of providing harassment training because it reduces lawsuits and costly litigation to address hostile work environment claims. Furthermore, insurance companies offer preferred discounted rates as an incentive to companies that offer training. They too, want to reduce the likelihood of lawsuits and know that training can help.
These serious abuses of power in our workplace will not go away on their own. In-depth training is needed and of course, that comes with a price tag. In most companies that provide training, it consists of interactive video training and the newer use of virtual reality (VR). In some companies, the training also includes an in-person group discussion component.
In general, most employees understand the value of sexual harassment awareness training. However, most people don’t find sexual harassment awareness training beneficial for themselves but instead like a tick in a box that’s for the company’s protection. Also, some awareness training doesn’t even train on best practices but instead informs employees to call a hotline number. However, to promote a safe and healthy work environment, sexual harassment awareness training must be taken seriously for the people’s protection.
Also, sexual harassment awareness training won’t be effective unless the recommended behaviors are endorsed and modeled by C-suite, including the chief executive officer and other executive leaders. And a company must hold their people accountable to its policies around sexual harassment to prevent a program from being viewed as “lip service” and a waste of their time.
As a learning leader, here are five steps to share with employees on how to stop abuse of power in its tracks:
- Document everything and record conversations. Include details of what exactly was said and who else heard or witnessed the event. Some states now make it illegal to record conversations without consent.
- If you see something, say something. Don’t be a silent bystander to sexual harassment. If a harasser is abusing power over one person, they are doing it to others.
- Do not suffer in silence, but don’t allow angry feelings to turn into hostile gossip. Rather, begin a factual and constructive conversation with company leaders. Listen intently, but ensure you’re being listened to and take notes. Openly discussing these tough and uncomfortable topics can help remove the stigma.
- Not all sexual harassment training is alike. Do your research with colleagues and connections about what training is being used and ask about effectiveness and cost. It’s time to pull the curtain back on what it is actually going to take to stop sexual harassment in the workplace.
- Consult an employment lawyer in your state. Human resources (HR) may not be an unbiased option for advice about harassment. When in doubt about your situation, ask a lawyer who specializes in employment issues. There may be a way to short-circuit and remedy the problem long before your case would ever get to court.
The bottom line is if sexual harassment continues to be an ongoing problem in your company, chasing good people away but not before traumatizing them, it is time to talk about effective sexual harassment awareness training. The benefits of investing in effective training far outweighs the costs of permitting these toxic behaviors in the workplace.
Sexual harassment awareness training can positively impact employee mental health and well-being. When employees feel heard and respected in a proactive company that works to build cultures of respect, productivity improves, retention increases and profits rise.
