Street Knowledge
Sexual Harassment - Jan. 28, 1996
With the current concern about sexual harrassment in the air... Street Knowledge held an indepth conversation on this subject..Just as things were beginning to get good...we had a suprise special guest caller... 2Pac. Apparently E-40 who is a friend of Pac was in the station the night before and had paged him.. Pac didn't return the call until that morning.. Since Pac is someone who I also know, we manged to get him to drop a few words And drop him he did.. To put it simply for 10 minutes 2Pac spoke passionately about his recent ups and downs. He concluded that for now on he lays out the complete itenary down to the last detail for his dates. He also noted that he now asks for permission to have sex.. 2Pac was quite a blast.
The guests were:
Robert Leveau - (attorney for National Organization for Women)
He said that sexual harassment isn't defined every context. Leveau said that the single best thing someone can do if they're experiencing a sexual harassment situation is keep a diary. He said that almost every woman who has spent time in the workplace has experienced sexual harasssment and it's true with many men also; it often comes down to one person's word against the other. Leveau said that when management on the job says "deal with it" about sexual harassment, what they're really saying is don't deal with it, because if you were dealing with it, you'd be reporting and correcting it.
He said that it happens in all different situations,(homosexual, etc.) but men don't report it as much.
Leveau closed by saying that people need to treat each other as equals, with dignity and respect. With this underlying rule, we won't run into these issues.
Melanie Dewberry - (Girls Inc.)
She said that businesses don't really know how to handle sexual harassment, so they respond by giving the accused three options: quit, be dismissed, or be transferred. Dewberry said that sexual harassment's gotten worse; ads and music videos help make it worse. We need to send messages that this is inappropriate. Women have been pioneers in the workplace the last twenty years and shouldn't be locked out because of sexual harassment. She closed by saying that you have to know that you're not powerless.
Justine Davis - (Girls Inc.)
- She said that the way someone dresses should have nothing with the onset of sexual harassment. You don't make comments just because of what someone is wearing. It is a person's business what type of clothes they wear. Davis closed by saying that the problem is that no one really knows the definition of sexual harassment - if you feels something's not right, it probably isn't. The number of Girls Inc. is (510) 357-5515.
Tamara Hicks - (National Organization for Women)
She said that it's always good to document events as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable.
Hicks said that women have to back each other up. She said that everyone can lie, not only women.
Hicks said that sexual harassment groups are a good idea. |