Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Recently stumbled across the latest sexual harassment scandal (please don't comment on it, or even ask about it, as it increases the chances of my post getting taken down), and it got me thinking about how seriously messed up this sort of thing is. The reason I am so mad is twofold:
1. This sort of thing happens all the time.
During my career I worked at one of the largest consulting firms in the world, out of their Chicago office. The head of the ENITRE Chicago office was doing some of the shadiest things I could fathom. To begin, he was regularly AND openly courting an Analyst, who was 20-some years younger. I am talking about publicly taking her out regularly on 2-3 hour lunches, multiple times per week. I cannot comment on what else took place, but I am sure it didn't end with lunches.
This same individual was later found to have imgregnated a junior employee, again roughly 20 years younger than himself. In the end, he ended things with her, and the stress led to a miscarriage. He was openly creepy with many of the young women in the office, and implied being able to "do things for them" if they developed a relationship with him. Many of these women were my friends.
Anyone working out of the Chicago office of the firm I am describing knows exactly what I am talking about. This is a firm known for being supportive of women in the workplace, and many of the leaders in the office MUST have known about this, but no one said a word. I cannot imagine how many people turned a blind eye to this, including a number of women in leadership.
2. This is so avoidable
Lets say you are a rainmaker MD. You can literally sleep with as many prostitutes as you can find and no one will bat an eye. Especially in banking and consulting, this sort of thing may be frowned upon, but so long as you keep your professional and private life separate, there is virtually no risk. I have worked at investment banks where MDs told me about doing coke and sleeping with girls while married.
Additionally, with unlimited money and status, you can go out to the bars ever single night and find some girl 20 years younger than you who has had too much to drink, and you can sleep with her too. Is it wildly unethical? Absolutely, and I can think of nothing scummier.
Nothing scummier, except for the idea of preying on YOUNG WOMEN who just started their careers. These arent lazy, unambitious women looking to create a lawsuit out of a misunderstood sexual advance, but hardworking, successful, driven women. The sad truth of the matter is that most of us men cannot even fathom how horrendous it would feel to be uncomfortable day in and out at work, feeling the awkward sexual advances of someone old enough to be your father.
These senior executives are old losers, sad, pathetic men, who wish to use their power in a way not so different from Epstein.
Tangent
This happens WAY more than people might think, especially in the US. I guarantee if you inspect any large financial services company with 5k+ employees, you can find multiple examples of this. While the latest scandal is still unfolding, I hope that if proven guilty, the individuals responsible AND other seniors who tolerated these actions get the book thrown at them. Ruining their careers will not be enough. I want these guys to be left shattered, divorced, alone, if not incarcerated.
I am sick and tired of this sort of thing getting swept under the rug. It is time for people who blatantly abuse their power to be examined under the microscope and severely punished for their unthinkable actions. There is NO exception
