The word “ire” doesn’t describe my feelings about several accounts I read yesterday of a powerful man’s (allegedly) horrendous treatment of young, talented, ambitious women in the workplace.
What struck my heart hardest was a remark by filmmaker Karen Katz, also called out in a piece by Rebecca Traister, “We were so young at the time…We did not understand how wrong it was or how Laura should deal with it.”
Whatever my emotion was last night, this morning it has annealed.
Growing up in suburban Chicago in the 70s, there were PTA “Block Angels.” Women posted signs in their front windows — as I recall, the image was a blue and white icon of an angel. The sign meant that if you were hurt or scared, even if you didn’t know the mom, you could ring the doorbell and get help.
If you’re reading this blog post, you probably know me. Or you know someone who knows me. The tech/startup community is pretty small.
If you’re being harassed, if you’re seeing situations that make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable at work, you can reach out to me. Even if you don’t know me.
I’ll help you.
Brava, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
Photo: Angel by Mike Knell, via Flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0. And, what a delightful collection Mike has made in his Roundel Project. No, Mike, it is not wrong to collect shots of platform signs from every London Underground station. It’s lovelyl
Anne Libby 