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.
My gender sucks.
The number of arsehole men is too damn high. Whenever I see or hear these stories my blood boils.
I honestly think the world would be better off without 90% of us.
I find that unfair. To you, and to millions of equally trash women.
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.
This is the kind of shit that happens when citizens don’t have the right to self defense. In the USA a woman could kill a man in self defense if they started a rape attempt. Without legal access to some kind of weapons for self defense a woman will almost always be at a significant disadvantage in a physical confrontation with a man. I support every woman’s inherent right to self-defense against rapists, and governments should too.
Wow there are so many downvoters on here, it’s sad that you all want those poor women to have no protection from being raped. Where I’m from the things this article describes are unheard of, because rapists know they will face consequences.
This may shock you, but sexual assault happens in America
That may be true, but at least the women have a fighting chance.
