Students get advice on working in the age of #MeToo
Panel at Point Park relates experiences
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For consumers of arts and entertainment, the sexual harassment scandals enveloping the industry have been shocking. For those hoping to enter those fields, the news has been personally threatening.
About 75 students at Point Park University on Thursday listened to a panel of professors and practitioners in arts and entertainment discuss the realities of working in the industry, and they brainstormed strategies for those confronted with sexual harassment.
They heard some horror stories from the assembled panelists — one was kissed in an elevator by a conductor she worked for, another was lured onto a couch and propositioned by her boss in a commercial photography studio, and one was handed a love letter at work by a man 30 years her senior.
The incidents still haunt them. And they continue to wrestle with the question of what to do when harassed in a small company without a human resources department to hear their complaints.
Ki Ki Brown, afternoon radio host on WAMO 100, recounted a recent incident in which she spoke directly to someone at work to tell him that a comment he made was inappropriate. When the man said he was joking, Ms. Brown emphasized that she was setting the tone for the workplace. “I don’t want anyone else to think it’s OK to speak to me like that,” she said.
For those with less stature in their field, the panelists recommended finding a mentor, and emphasized the power of bystanders. “Bystander intervention is central to preventing violence,” said Sera Mathew, an assistant professor in the Department of Community Engagement. “It takes the onus away from the victim and places it on the community.”
Just a small action by a witness to an unwelcome sexual interaction can make a big difference, said Ms. Mathew, noting that bystanders could simply ask to get a cup of coffee, or say that they heard a car alarm going off, to disrupt the situation.
April Friges, assistant professor of photography and photography program coordinator at Point Park, noted that in “assistant” roles, common jobs for those breaking into the industry, young people can be particularly vulnerable to sexual assault and harassment. “There is a line,” she said. “You don’t need to do everything that they tell you to do.”
Getting hit on by men shook her confidence in her own abilities early in her career, she said, and was one reason why she left the