Katie* is one of three female paramedics who have shared their experiences of being “hounded” for sexual favours in return for passing training, getting a promotion or simply keeping their jobs.
Although these remarks were often dismissed as “jokes” or “banter”, Katie says, occasionally it shifted into a “monumental” abuse of power.
“Handjobs. Blowjobs. They were obsessed with blowjobs,” she says.
Once I made a mistake with a patient, and a colleague tried to blackmail me into having sex with him. It was horrendous. When I told him no, he said, “watch your back, because I could rape you”.
I don’t know how you change this culture. When posters saying “We Do Not Tolerate Sexual Harassment” were put on the doors in the ladies toilets, a man crossed out the “Not” and drew a penis next to a woman’s mouth.
Call me when a majority of women are voting for fascists. Or when every day there are at least ten stories coming out just like this or when women are terrify men just for being there. There is no place for us in the future. There is hardly a place for us now.
Hi-yo from Russia, lol. I’m in a permanent state of shock from what people around me say and support. And with women it’s sometimes even more insane since they don’t have much to lose in the ongoing war.
It’s good that you’ve started to dig into sex\gender problems, but that’s not the final stage of your journey. There are a lot of intersections between societal, political, biological issues coming into play, that many you would lose yourself at least a dozen of times trying to put them together in your thoughts. Yet, you should remember that you are valid, and that by Occams’ razor you shall not see an evil intent in others where it could’ve been just a plain stupidity.