Everyone Deserves to Feel Safe at Work
Content warning: discussions of sexual harrassment and assault
I started at Salient in 2019, a first-year student with stars in her eyes and a hunger for storytelling. I came to university to be someone, and I was excited to explore writing as a potential career path.
Salient was both fascinating and intimidating. The office was full of older students who were far more talented and accomplished than me, who spoke ideas into existence and created a weekly print publication with minimal resources. Ambitious, political, artistic, fearless. They were everything I aspired to be, and I wanted them to notice me—a first-year ‘writer’ who had never actually written anything.
I assumed I needed a leg up, someone on the inside who would vouch for me. And I found one.
Several years older than me and established in the Salient community at the time, they promised me they could help. This person was a gatekeeper to an opportunity I wanted access to, so when the alarm bells started going off inside my head, I silenced them. I truly believed they cared about me and had my best interests at heart.
When you’re 18 years old, no one teaches you that a coerced ‘yes’ is still a no.
While their actions outside the office impacted me the most, their behaviour in our shared working environment is what made me unsure of my future at Salient. The lingering touches, the sustained eye contact, mouthing words across an office full of people when they thought no one else was looking. I only felt compelled to make a disclosure after seeing them behave the same way around other young women, understanding that I wasn’t the first and may not be the last. When we seek justice, it is often not just for ourselves, but for those around us.
I made my disclosure at the end of the year and they were never welcomed back at Salient. Steps were taken to ensure that, after 2019, I never found myself in the same room as them. I wasn’t asked to regurgitate my story to several people; the first person I told believed me, and it was taken care of. I can’t put into words how much that helped me heal, knowing that the people I worked for prioritised my wellbeing over someone else’s reputation.
I’ve spent three years wondering if I needed to tell this story, if there was anything to be gained from sharing it. I think my semi-profound message for you is this: Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. With that being said, seeking justice is an exhausting process and it's important to let survivors decide what the best course of action is.
In January this year, a former partner of Russell McVeagh was suspended from practicing law for two years due to his sexual harrassment of summer clerks. The incidents occured in 2015 and the news broke out in 2018. It was only in 2022 that the perpetrator faced any consequences. Justice takes time and energy. If you’re in the same boat, and making a disclosure is not an option, I hope you find support in whatever form works for you.
Take care of yourself this week.