HELP! I’m a WOMAN!
Disclaimer: Usually I don’t wake up and choose violence. Today, I do :)
I’m done carrying this burden alone. I’m done being quiet.
So, now you may ask…why are you angry Lin?
I’ll say….I don’t even know from where to begin, but I’ll just start and see where this will take me.
Let’s roll back to when I was a kid, can’t remember my age but I remember I was at 4th grade, back then in Aleppo it was safe for kids to walk places alone, so you find small kids walking to school alone, or going to their hobby classes alone, so mom used to send me to my guitar classes alone, as it was around a 10 minutes walk.
On one spring day, I was walking to my class and then a man who I’d give he’s in his 40’s was standing on my path way, and when I was about to cross him, he stood to the side and gave me way to pass, in my mind I thought oh wow what a gentleman! Because I could’ve been the one that went out of the pathway to cross him, anyways..I kept on walking, and then few minutes later I hear footsteps behind me matching the pace of my walk, I look back and I see that man, he grins at me showing full teeth but the look on his face looked very predatorial, I start walking faster and the panic starts kicking in, then those footsteps became faster matching mine and I look back and only then I see, that he had his zipper down and his privates part were out and he’s wanking off! To me! Me Lin the 4th grade kid who my guitar at that time which I wore on my back was taller than me!
I started running, heart beating insanely fast! Until I reach that musical institute in pure terror. I didn’t tell anyone, I didn’t know what to say..too shy and ashamed to say anything and unfortunately that day I had to walk back, but I took another route a longer route but one that was busier and had many other people, and I kept on taking the longer route ever since. And I didn’t tell my mom, I also didn’t know what to tell her…mama was a very angry woman, every interaction with her scared me, even when it wasn’t my fault she’d shout at me, maybe she shouts out of worry, out of fear for my own sake, but she shouts nonetheless…so I didn’t want to be shouted at, so I kept quiet and haven’t told a soul (until yeaaaaars later when I’m older and I had the harassment discussion with my teenage friends who they are all by then has been exposed to a similar situation).
While that incident was the first time in my life that I see a stranger wanking off to me, it surely wasn’t the last.
Over the years, I’ve faced so many harassers while walking in the street, there was a guy that always parked his car in front of the monastery where we had our Scouts gathering every Friday. And it was girls scout so every Friday aloooot of girls will be walking their way there, just like I did.
He used to park, open the window and shamelessly stare at us girls while he wanks off! Like an animal! He was an animal, the look on his face also was predatorial, and he didn’t care when we shouted at him, maximum he does is start driving off as he was wanking already while being in the driver seat ready to flee if he’s threatened.
And many more..many more harassers crossed my path over the years, pinching my ass and running away, saying the filthiest words, wanking off somewhere in the dark…and I remember each and every one of them till this day.
And you may think oh what a poor girl! No no no! This is not me! It’s the issue of my entire gender! Those story above were the norm for all of my friends, they also faced the same thing, and all of us we were so helpless, because we were in a place where there’s no law, and if you complain about harassment, it’s brushed off as if its nothing.
And then I grew up, and I moved out of the country and I lived in cities where it’s unlikely to be harassed in the streets as there are cameras and there is law, so I stopped facing street harassment, but I sometimes still heard some really filthy words while passing by someone.
And then I started working, and I loved the place where I worked, I loved the people, all of the close friends that I made in Dubai were from that place, everyone was really nice and it was at that time a very nice place to work at.
And it was my first “proper” job ever, so I was as naive as it gets! I was clueless about where the boundaries should be set, what is okay and what’s not okay in a professional environment so I treated everyone equally, and it wasn’t a place with communication hierarchy, you can talk to the founder just like how you to the intern, as it was such a fun and welcoming environment.
So me, being the clueless girl that I was when I started there as an Intern at the age of 23, harassment in my mind was..what I mentioned above, predatorial looks, men wanking off..but I wasn’t even aware what “grooming” is, not the word and not the concept.
So I pour my heart and soul into that job, I swear I’ve given that place so much of my entire existence (physical health, mental health, ultimate dedication) I treated it as if it was my own business and not a company where I just worked 9–6. And that did pay back, they did appreciate it, I got promoted alot, I got my salary increasing quite rapidly in those 7 years starting from an intern reaching innovation lead. So all of my hard work was paying off, but also I got myself involved in waaaay too many things that I shouldn’t have, as I’m just an employee at the end of the day, But here I am helping the founders with all of my might to fix all the issues that are not related to my job AT ALL, even things like employee morale and the toxicity that at one point was spreading in the office, I took it on my behalf to fix it and I did…I did quite a lot.
Anyways seeing that I was too involved that also meant I was too connected to almost everyone in that office, and because me in my true human nature, I can click with people easily no matter who you are, I can just click with you.
So the saga unfolds when one of the co-founders, and for those who will read this and they used to work there- before you wonder which one!!! I think its clear that I’ll be talking about the alcoholic one :)
He starts messaging me quite frequently, interacting with my instagram stories, we laugh, we talk, but for me he was just like any other person in the office, I didn’t care that he was the co-founder, so I’d just joke and talk like I would with anyone, but he never was the person that I’d be comfortable talking with or hanging out with on a personal level, I just never felt comfortable being around him alone.
Our interaction were far and between on socials and whatsapp, but he started reaching out alot when I had my mental breakdown and took off from work for one month. He swooshed his way in, sharing about his own personal mental struggles and previous life experiences, in my mind i thought oh wow what a really kind human. He’s the co-founder of this established agency and yet he’s finding time to talk to me about life, deep stuff, painful stuff..I really liked him.
So when I went back to resume my work, he was messaging me more, I interacted with him more, but from my end it was just that, just a nice convo, just a joke and while I did think of him as such a kind human (how naive i was) it didn’t ever cross my mind what is actually happening…breaking news! I was being groomed :)
Years have passed, every single time he talks to me he says “ when will you come to see the batcave” the place where he lives he calls the batcave due to the dark walls, and he always invites me over to drink…the offer is always to come and get drunk together.
Every time i post a story that he interacts with, the first sentence is about the story, the second one would be about “come on bruvvv when are we getting drunk together”
And while I was naive, surely! But I can also be quite a prude! Yes I know I look quite open minded and modernized, but I’ve never let go of my upbringing and oriental roots!
So there’s no way in hell that I’d ever put myself in a position where I’d be alone with a man (who is someone I’m not in a romantic relationship with) to get drunk at his own place alone, while I will have absolutely no control over the situation. So I always mumbled an excuse, or said lets just go to that Karak shop down your house if you want to talk, I don’t like alcohol anyways to start with, let alone to get drunk!
But he would always shut down the idea and always offer again to get drunk at this place, and I never noticed, but that invitation was always me..alone! As he used to have other group of colleagues that come hang out at his place, I was never invited to that! If he really had pure intentions and geniunly wanted me to see the cool bat cave, wouldn’t make sense for me to be invited with that group? As they were my friends already. No I was always invited alone.
Anyways I’ve shut it down every single time (by the way I wasn’t aware that it’s grooming or of his mal-intentions, I just shut it down because I just don’t feel like it…I did’t want to).
But my intuition always made me feel uncomfortable around him, as he just didn’t make any sense! His action made no sense!
I came once to his desk to ask for help in something at work, I edged close to show him a document or something, when I went back home that day he messages me saying:
Hey can I ask you something?
Me: sure
Him: What’s the name of the perfume you had on today? It’s the same smell of my ex and when you came closer it opened a flood of memories and emotions.
Me: oh yeah absolutely, here’s the name.
Clueless! I AM CLUELESS!
And I remember exactly I was on a Skiing trip in Azerbaijan, we rented a cottage, we were 5 all of us worked there and all of us were friends, but I remember when the two girls that were with us slept, I stayed with my two guy friends, and they were the closest to me, and the topic of that co-founder came up and I remember exactly what I said:
“Guys..I don’t know but X gives me such a weird vibe, like I don’t know what it is but I feel uncomfortable, there’s something off about him”
Their response was noo it’s just who he is, and he have drinking issues and he had a messed up life and he’s just like that with everyone.
yeah..might be! I mean I believed so too, so I brushed it off.
Fast forward few more years, we are in a company outing and he always used to come to company outings ONLY if there’s a bar involved so he can carry on getting drunk, because it’s never enough the alcohol he consumed already at home.
So I remember him and another girl standing at the bar, that girl is hilarious and fun and she’s cool and we were good friends, so I go there to them seeing them laughing on something, I say heyyyy guysss what are we laughing at?
Then I notice the co-founder’s screen, he had it held up high so openly! It’s not like he was hiding it or anything…and that screen showed porn! A full on porn video! I gasped!
I was like what the fuck!!! What are you guys seeing…and then he goes shamelessly and say:
i’m showing her the deepfakes I make look how good they are! This is a very famous Bollywood actress and with deepfake I can do this porn video and put it on the dark web.
I was speechless, the other girl was laughing (she was laughing because thats her character, because she’s easy going with everything and because he never groomed her or did anything that made her uncomfortable so she didn’t think of it anything other than what we all think…oh X is just being his weird self)
But that time, I couldn’t act normal, I was visibly upset, I said:
I’ll leave you guys to it. I don’t want to be part of that.
And I went back to hang out with other people, and I brushed it off.
Fast forward January 2023, the company trip, the trip that I was insanely excited to go on! Especially that I was the one in the employee feedback form suggested it! You want us to be more connected while we are working remotely, well take us on a trip somewhere! And they did! And I was ecstatic! I was having soo much fun, all of us were.
And X (the co-founder) couldn’t come on the trip because he had an eye surgery, and I remember exactly (see that I was still naive till jan 2023) that I messaged saying on the group slack, oh “X” you will be missed on that trip, but we all talk like that with each other so it’s not like a public announcement of my love or any sort of an affection!
Two days into the trip, I was sleeping at night and usually when I sleep I never wake up until the morning, but that night I woke up with my eyes blurry and I was 90% still sleeping, I wanted to check the time on my phone and I see a message from him from my notification bar, i slide it down and I read it, I was so sleepy that I couldn’t understand the words I’m seeing but it shocked me!!! So I run to whatsapp to open it and see it fully, I see message was deleted.
From what I gathered, he was expressing his feelings towards me, and there was a heart emoji and shit that I didn’t even have time to comprehend! And he sent it to me at 2 am.
He always messaged me through out the years late at night! Always late at night, and I sleep super early anyways so always my responses will be the next day when I wake up. But I assume thats the time at night where he reaches the maximum of his drunkness and he starts messaging right and left.
I was disgusted from his message, ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! And he confirmed all of my suspicions and all of my “uncomfortableness” around him, he did actually have ill intentions and it wasn’t just “his character” as we all used to give him that excuse.
What made everything even more disgusting is how reality sinked in…it took me years to realize what was going on but that message confirmed all of it!!!! And what is even worse is that another girl came to this company, same background as me, just as naive as i was, just as young and as clueless as i was when I joined, she was the identical replica of me (as in all the checkboxes that he probably look for) and I saw him getting close to her, messaging her all of that fake encouragement and how he sees her becoming a head of department (he said the same thing to me too when I was a junior). He was getting closer and closer to her, but back then I had off feelings about him and I told her don’t, and I told her Becareful but I wasn’t sure at all about what his intentions are, as that was months before I got his message.
But I kept on warning her, and the difference between me and her is what protected me was me being a prude:) but she wasn’t so she didn’t feel anything was off, it was her first real job too! So she also didn’t know anything about boundaries, he got way closer to her than me, I remember one day she said:
“ he opened up to me about secrets that he never told any other soul”
And I looked at her and said, don’t you think its weird that a man in his mid fourties, have no one else in his life to share those secrets with, but an intern at his company who is almost 20 years younger than him? Like what life advice you can provide I wonder?
She said yeah I don’t know, and she went on to give him excuses, the same excuses that I gave him, the same excuses that everyone else in the office gave him, ohh its just his character and you know he gets drunk alot and he says rubbish but he’s such a sweet guy.
That girl was Naive AF! he was talking to her way more than he ever talked to me, late night talks and shit…so here the alarms in my head were pounding..I couldn’t silence those alarms, I couldn’t see her on the verge of such danger and be quiet about it.
March 2023, a clash happens between me and my boss and that was the breaking point for me, my boss was my mentor, my friend, my sister..no one ever did or give me as much as she did, her time, her patience, her knowledge, her friendship. She was the reason why I stayed there for 7 years, and the clash that happened between us wasn’t anything serious at all, and surely not enough for me to quit. But by then I had enough of everything in life and I just needed change. So I quit but also, my boss was the only thing I was loyal to at that company, so when I had a fight with her my anger was let loose and I was like fuck it! Why would I keep quiet on the actions of X (the co-founder) I need to speak up.
So I requested a meeting outside of the office with the COO (maybe thats his title I don’t know) and I told him everything, about the co-founder, he was shocked, he was in disbelief, he said he never knew any of that happened…he was saying the truth I can see that clearly on his face.
But what triggered me is his justification (COO is a white British man)
“But Lin you need to understand that the nationality of that co-founder (Indian), for them its okay to act in such manner, culturally its acceptable for them — but it’s not acceptable here and we’ll be taking actions leave this with me and I’ll get back to you”
And i get dragged into a meeting after meeting reciting alll of my experience, everything that went wrong, all of my encounters…screenshots of all of his messages.
Weirdly here, I noticed that oh my god! On instagram and whatsapp he talks to me in a tone and then on work slack, all of his messages were super professional and controlled and never asking me to go get drunk at this place. WHAT!! I was shocked I never noticed this, so he was very aware of his actions all along and its not the alcohol.
Anyways, I shouted, I yelled, I complained, I filed for harassment, legal team gets involved to take the conversation over, and what’s the outcome:
X the cofounder will get a training to fix his behaviour.
He got a written warning.
Ummm…seriously? So I shouted even more and I cussed them and their entire organization and I made hell break loose with my words, but you know what? At that point I have already achieved what I wanted to achieve, because now my boss (who’s our head of department and she’s a woman) and the other head of department (who’s also a woman) they are now both aware, so they will be now able to monitor the environment and speak up if such a pattern is being noticed in the office.
I made hell break loose, even though I’ve already quit, because I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for not speaking up, for not breaking the pattern, and If I didn’t say anything..god knows how many juniors and how many interns will come work with him and be exposed to his disgustingness.
Legally no action was taken, but ever since then and thats a year and a half ago almost, he was never seen in a company event :)
Yesterday, 19th of August, 2024…I got harassed.
I got harassed in a place where I thought public order prevails, safety is number one, and that those who do wrong, will be punished. That’s what I believed for the 8 years I lived here…turns out it’s the biggest myth ever.
I got harassed while I was literally inside of the sea paddle boarding at Kite beach, the harasser left the entire empty sea (as it was early morning) and he swam too close TOO close to me, that for a moment I had to stop paddling to not hit him with my paddle by mistake.
And it took me a moment to realize as the sun was strong and my vision wasn’t clear, but then I saw…he was staring at me body, at my bikini bottoms in a way that I haven’t seen anyone do before, soo shamelessly! He didn’t even hide it! He didn’t care that I’m staring at him back…maybe he didn’t notice my stare, as he was so fixated at my bottom.
While doing so, he was touching himself, and it was sooo clear because that man doesn’t even have the decency to wear a proper swimsuit, he was wearing his very VERY revealing boxer.
I shouted “What are you looking at” he was unresponsive, fixated on my bottom, in a trance, I started shouting louder “What are you looking at you disgusting human” he woke up from his trance and started mumbling and then he swam farther away because other people were around us and they noticed my shouting (not that they ever care to come help or even ask a girl who clearly is distressed — what’s wrong) he swam away and started shouting back at me, Mimicking my “what are you looking it” in a very sarcastic way!
I shouted: “I’ll show you what I’ll do” and I paddled my way back to shore, the surf shop guy came to take his board, I told him what happened and that I want to report the harasser, he said yes yes go there to the police office (pointed at the nothingness) took his board and left me.
I saw a security guy next to the food court at Kite beach literally he was soo bored of the lack of work, that he was staring at the bushes next to him, I called him:
“ heyyy please come help me, I need to report a guy for harassment” and I’m doing that while trying to look back at the sea to not loose sight of my harasser because over my dead body that I let this pass.
The security says its not his job to help with such things, I was furious, I got angry at him:
“ I said you know what maybe its not your job, but aren’t you a human? Where is your humanity! I’m a girl standing infront of you seeking your help even if its not your job, wouldn’t you as a human come help me? What if it was you sister? Would you say its not your job”
He started mumbling: noo don’t involve my sister..etc. anyways I asked for his supervisor.
While waiting for the supervisor (took him over 20 minutes to come) those 20 minutes I was standing staring at the sea fixated on my harasser who was swimming like a retard, the security guy was standing next to me, he felt the guilt, he said I’m sorry.
I told him:
You know what I appreciate your apology, but I just wished that you just stepped in to help me when I seeked your help, as a human not as security guard.
The supervisor comes with two other security guys, he says what happen I tell him, he mumbles something:
“Ma’am here we are part of dubai Municipality we can’t be involved you need the police, I said okay call the police for me, he said…yeah we tried but the police station at kite beach is empty, no one there yet” and he gathers his men and start walking away from me, And I lost my shit!!! I went full on villain mode on that supervisor.
I said:
“ are you actually taking your guys and leaving me??? When I’m telling you I need someone to be here with me when this guy comes out of the sea how would I stop him myself when he’s twice my height before the police come”
“Ma’am we can’t interfere”
“What is wrong with you people!!! Your security guy was literally standing there two meters away looking at the grass!!! Literally two meters away from me, what difference would it make if he stands here with me and keep an eye on the harasser until the police comes — and here I threatened them that if he doesn’t leave a security guy with me I’ll be reporting the supervisor and the harasser to the police- he got scared. He left a guy with me”
At this point half an hour passed, me in distressed, eyeing that harasser, security keep on making excuses to not call the police, my phone was at the surf shop and I didn’t go get it from the beginning because I didn’t want the harasser to escape, so I asked the security guy to keep an eye on him and I ran to the surf shop got my phone and called the police.
The police dispatched the Kite beach patrol within 5 minutes, they came..I explained what happened, in details, I wasn’t shy at all even when culturally me as an arab and the police guys as local emiratis, culturally i wouldn’t be comfortable telling you that the guy was looking at my bottom while he was touching himself, but I wasn’t shy I said it all as it is.
They gave me empty stares and said:
“ so what would like from us to do?”
I was in disbelief, I thought I didn’t understand what he said, I said sorry? What do you mean? You tell me what you’re capable of doing, I don’t know.
“He said I mean do you want us to just talk to the harasser or are you filing a harassment case”
I said I don’t know, I feel like the harasser is mentally ill, his mannerism didn’t seem normal at all, so just bring him to shore lets see what he’ll say and based on that we decide on the action.
Police: “empty stares”
They didn’t want to step out of their AC’ed car and to step on the sand with those slick clean shoes, but me…I was standing barefoot for an hour now, on the hot sand, under the scorching sun, not willing to back down from punsihing my harasser.
The police call for another security to come and go and try shout to the harasser to come to shore, he goes, he tries, he comes back laughing telling the police:
“Sir, that man is ignoring me sir, I don’t know what to do” while he sheepishly smiled.
I was in disbelief x10! I was facing my worst nightmares and these men, they are not phased, empty stares into the horizon and literally couldn’t give any empathy or even assistance.
I had to take matters into my own hand while I stood there with 3 men unable to help, I said lets get the life guard to bring him out then, the security is hestitant, he starts fidgeting with his phone, unsure what to do when literally the life guard is around 100 meters from us..and he can just go get him…he didn’t.
I went :) I ran to the life guard told him to come assist the police:
“Ma’am I can’t leave my position”
“What do you mean you can’t leave your position??!!!! We need your help with the police to come bring a guy out the sea”
“ sorry I can’t”
I ran back to the police, being so angry, I said what do you want me to do? Go swim myself and get my own harasser??
Police: Empty stares.
by now the harasser started being closer to shore, I told the security guy..hey look! He’s closer go shout to him to come, he did — the life guard used his whistle and they managed to get the harasser out of the sea.
He was trying to fix his boxer, that disgusting bulge of his that was sooo out there! But its impossible to fix because he’s wearing a boxer and its so revealing. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING
The police tell him what happened, he start saying I don’t know who she is. I lose my mind — I start shouting at him:
“You’re a pervert! And a harasser and insanely disgusting and yet you are being rude!!! What is wrong with you!!!!”
He starts shouting back at me (infront of the police):
“ I’m disgusting??? You are the one who’s disgusting! I’m an educated man, I pray, I fast…I didn’t do anything to you” “Did I touch you”
I said, should I have waited for you to touch me for this to be considered a harassment??? He said no there’s also verbal harassment but I didn’t do anything…I thought you were fishing (😱what a dumb excuse) and I came closer to see what you’re fishing (I was on a paddle board with a paddle) and then he said and I talked to you an arabic, and seeing that we were both arabs I’d have never do such a thing you’re like my sister.
I was like hold on hold on hold on…first of all at sea, we didn’t talk in Arabic, I shouted at you in English, and there’s nothing about me wearing that Bikini and I pointed at my tattoos, that would make you assume I’m arab in the first place to talk to me in arabic.
And your relationship with god is not my business, here on earth you are a harasser.
“He says Arab or foreigner, It doesn’t matter I didn’t harass you”
This went on for 10 minutes me and my harasser fighting, shouting..the police standing there with us, just watching us.
Not phased, not interested…too bored from my inconvenience of BEING HARASSED.
I was shocked.
Then they start to talk, ask him about his emiratesid, he kept on making excuses, they forced him to go get it from his clothes or his passport or anything.
He goes and fidget around in his pile of his clothes, took him around 10–15 minutes while all of us were standing there waiting for him.
He was dumb, and clearly mentally unstable — maybe in his mind he thought if he take longer we would all get bored and move on.
To be honest, he was right! The police wanted to move on from the first minute when they arrived, not me. Not today. Not any other day.
He comes, shows the police empty screen on his phone, the police asks show me an identity document, anything.
He wastes time for 5 more minutes its like how kids act when a teacher asks for the homework and we fidget around looking for our homework (knowing very well deep inside of us that we haven’t done it) but he’s not a kid, this is not a school, he’s a 44 year old harasser.
Anyways turns out, he overstayed his visit visa in 4 months, he’s jobless, he lives in an illegal apartment, he is mentally unstable as the security identified him already and said this man always comes and speak in a weird way and fight with me and sit on the beach benches for so long many days a week.
The police asks the harasser to go put his clothes on, (all of this was happening while he was standing in his boxer and his bulge is staring at us) while me, the girl! Even though I didn’t want to lose sight of my harasser but the first thing I did went i went out of the sea is to put my clothes on before I go have a serious conversation with anyone.
The police asked me if I want to file for harassment, I asked not once not twice but maybe three times for further clarification of what would happen if I did file for harassment? Like what would be the outcome, their responses were:
“ sister just tell us you want to file or not, and then you take it from there”
“Its not our job what happens after, we are only here to take the testimony of both parties and pass it to the court”
The way the entire situation was clear that they don’t want to be bothered anymore, they are sick of me and my fight and they just want to go sit back in their AC’ed car.
they said they’ll take the guy anyways for his illegal overstay, I felt like this is a lost case anyways seeing that no one cared from all of those men that were involved, so why would the judge at court give it any more importance than them” i said I don’t want to file for harassment.
Went, got my stuff and started walking to my car with all of the weight of the world on my shoulders, tired, exhausted, dehydrated and sun burnt..went back home and slept for three hours from how exhausted I was, and I was exhausted mentally more than physically as I am capable of standing for 6 hours without a problem, but the weight of what happened crushed me.
I didn’t cry, I wasn’t sad…I was angry, I was shocked..I was disappointed.
In the evening I go to a Yin Yoga class, and while I was stretching and doing breathwork the flood of emotions kicked in and my tears started streaming down, I remembered all of the harassments that I was exposed to my entire life, I remembered how my mom never allowed me to work when I was young and studying saying you’ll be faced with disgusting bosses and you won’t know how to deal with them, I was so angry at my mom for that because I thought she was exaggerating.
She was right, god knows what my mom faced that made her worry about us like that.
Every single girl I’ve met in my life was harassed at one point in her life, and more than once for sure.
This is not okay, this is not acceptable!
Yesterday:
1 surf guy
5 security guards
30+ men at the beach who heard me shouting.
1 life guard
2 Police officers
None of them wanted to be invovled. None of them cared. They all wanted me to be quiet and brush it off as I was a mere inconvenience.
I’m so angry, not at the harasser, he’s clearly a psycho! I’m so angry at the world we live in, at all of these men that they are nothing but a bundle of muscle but zero chivalry. I’m angry at my two closest guy friends who knew when I was going through harassment case against our co-founder and while they did empathize with me, but one of them who I held so much high regards to him, he mentioned later on that he still talks to him (the sick cofounder) not only that, after quitting that work — he want back to work with them.
Him and all of his manners and all of the respect I held for this friend, he was honestly a brother…he didn’t care (other than few empty words) he went back to put his hands with the hand of the sick predator, knowing that not only me opened up about harassment, another close friend of ours did and while she wasn’t the target of the cofounder, she was the target of others but she went and complained to that sick cofounder and he told her:” it’s nothing its just a cultural thing, British people are like that”
The British COO said the Indian Co-founder his culture is the issue.
The Indian Co-founder said the British Head of deparmtent’s culture is the issue.
The first thing the security guys at the beach asked me was “ What is his nationality”
The police on the phone before dispatching the patrol asked me “what his nationality- I said I don’t know and it doesn’t matter”
The police patrol that came asked me first “what’s his nationality — and I said, I don’t know (even though I knew) and I said why would that make any difference, the police mumbled nothingness.
Every single man blamed it on the culture and on the nationality. Stop. Please stop.
Its your sick existence is the issue, it’s not where you came from.
You are sick! You are a predator and we are exposed to this every single day of our lives.
Drop dead gorgeous girls, average looking girls and even girls covered up in black head to toe…we’ve all been harassed.
After yesterday, I realized that we are on our own in this world, and for me..I’m doing my part. I fight and I always will fight, even when everyone around me is failing me, even when I’m too exhausted to fight. I will fight.
I said I will not talk about the work harassment incident because I don’t want that news to go out and it may impact the jobs of people there who I love. But after how I was harassed yesterday, I decided I’ll no longer keep quiet. Its not my responsibility to protect that business, that falls on his hands, and he should be the one concerned with the livelihood of his employees before he do such disgusting actions. Not me.
It’s such a burden being a woman in this world.
And unfortunately we are on our own and so….we fight.
