Interesting piece -- that brought back a series of very unpleasant memories, from back-in-the-day where there was really no place to report something like this. The best you could hope for was that the man would be told "cut it out" by someone with authority over him.

And then ... yes, you'd have to live with the consequences. And the inevitable disclaimer that "He was just joking around" -- and the accusation that "you have no sense of humor."

Good for you for what you did by taking her seriously. But I don't know a good way to deal with the problem -- because some men seem to think this is just a prerogative they have that "goes with the territory" -- and other people wink at each other and agree. You can't police the repercussions ... or force people to behave themselves and be civil.

My sympathies really do go out to this young woman. Clearly the incident upset her terribly. (And yet people will say, "Hey ... it's not like she came away bleeding or anything, now, did she? What's the big deal anyway?")

I would be extremely interested to hear if there is any woman who reads this who doesn't have her own story to tell about unwanted "attentions" from some man at some place where she worked. Most of us, I am confident, have more than one instance we could recount.

It's the same story with whistle-blowers even with non-sexual issues to put forth and discuss. The pressure to just keep your mouth shut and play along is enormous. Having the courage to speak up can literally put you in danger. And there are plenty of high-profile examples to point to. I'm amazed anyone even tries to do the right thing anymore.