What No One Tells You About Sexual Harassment
Nobody tells you that the clothes you wore become strange souvenirs
You will be 23 and he will be 46.
You will bring your makeup to work, put it on after he comes to your office in the morning. It doesn’t pay to put it on before then. Eventually, you won’t wear makeup. People will ask you if you’re tired. You’ll laugh and tell them that you just have an ugly face.
You will expect to lose all ambition, the ability to do your job well. No one tells you that you won’t. You will still love your job, and you’ll fight to keep it. You will push yourself harder because your students deserve better. It’s not their fault. You will put in longer hours, involve yourself in extra committees, win awards. You will think you are winning, but you won’t be.
There will be posters that tell you to report. To Say Something. But he will tell you not to. He will say it with clenched teeth, with his hand on you. The posters won’t say anything about that.
Soon, you will be unable to drive to work without stopping to get sick. Your commute is 15 minutes long, but you leave half an hour early. You’ll stop at different gas stations. Sometimes the one before the bridge, sometimes the one after the bridge, sometimes — when you think you’ll actually…
