Toni Hargis
2 min readOct 8, 2021

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I was using rape because there are more statistics, but yes of course there are other allegations.

Let me address some of your points tho' -

1. " since I have never heard of an investigation of a woman for sexual harassment (and I have heard of women sexually harassing men) . There are 2 things going on here (altho' there are cases of women being legally charged with harassment if you look). First is that there are again, so statistics to show that men even anecdotally report harassment by women on the scale that it happens the other way round. Secondly, the reason a lot of men wouldn't come forward about it anyway, is because it's not seen as "manly". Why's that? Because of the toxic culture around masculinity, or as others call it, "The Man Box". This is the culture that men have made for themselves, so while yes, it's a reason to stop men coming forward. it's not women's fault. There are good men out there (and writing on Medium) who are working to change this culture, but yes, I agree, it's toxic.

2. You are right not to close your door, because not only does that give you protection from whatever you think you might be accused of, it gives the young woman in that dynamic far more security. However, if you start excluding women from lunches where business is discussed & decisions are made, you could find yourself accused of discrimination anyway, and certainly men who refuse to meet alone with women or mentor them, while not doing the same with other men, will fall foul of those laws.

3. I'm afraid I don't have the same level of sympathy for the writer as you. There were a thousand words he could have chosen to make his point, but he chose two words that reference intimate apparel for women and words which any warm-blooded man should have known to avoid. As a writer it's perhaps even worse because of the plethora of words he could have used instead. This is the type of thing that actually does embarrass some women and saying "I didn't know" doesn't make it any less embarrassing.

4. I'm not sure I agree with him being immediately walked out the door - but I also don't know if he had done anything else or been given any warnings.

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Toni Hargis
Toni Hargis

Written by Toni Hargis

Co-author of “How to Stand up to Sexism; Words for when enough is enough”. Helping women find their voices. @ToniHargis

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