I didn't act like a "Snowflake" not like a woman wishing to sell her story to a magazine. I was a 16 year old girl, considered pretty, but very naive. In my first job in an office, I was required to carry a tray of tea/coffee up a staircase and enter an office with four males. One of them was able to ask me to repeat a question which, in the saying, offered up a double entendre, a grotty sexual suggestion. I would just repeat the question and was embarrassed and blushed, because the other men (bar one) simply sniggered when I did so, and all eyes were on me. This happened twice a day. I decided he was just stupid, trying to find a way of humiliating me. It was years later before I thought of that constant attempt to make me uncomfortable and what my question could have implied. I hated going into their room. One young man (whose name I still recall), lowered his eyes and looked uncomfortable. He did not snigger and always thanked me for putting his coffee down in front of him. Always. I liked him, of course. He never once joined in the hilarity which was at my expense.
Today, looking back, I would assess those guys (except one) as emotionally immature. I so disliked them. Today's 16 year old girl may have quickly dealt with that by either dumping hot coffee over the part of his anatomy with which he was so obsessed.
If I had been still at school and one of the teachers spoke to me that way, it would immediately be brought to the Principal's attention and he's been given his marching orders. Most of my peers were still at school at that age.
Unlike one poster here who reckons it is good to simply blame the victim, the perpetrator should be aware that they make women's days miserable. They were bullies and needed the support of other men, making me the minority. I knew I was a target. I heard the sniggering. I knew I blushed readily. I also knew myself to be very young and as a child, was raised to believe that I was very attractive. Most young women of 16 are, I guess. It was a time of male attention and compliments. I also knew myself to be in the humblest of jobs and vulnerable. I remember this very well, despite the long passage of years which have since passed. This is not the only instance of sexual harassment I can recall in offices I have worked in, another, more serious one, was on the train, etc. Was any of it my fault? I know the answer to that.
When the power balance is weighed against a young vulnerable female, sadly there are men who cannot help themselves but take the opportunity to get a smirk from their male mates. Just as you can read here, some male posters are too insensitive and emotionally immature to understand the harm they can cause to their victim. Sad, but true. One poster here has decided that the female is just a "snowflake" - classic case of blame the victim, but it is the men who need to become educated.
Did I ever complain to anyone about that experience of those men? No, I never did. Not to my family. Not to the boss at the job. No-one. I kind of thought it was something I just had to endure.
"A double entendre may exploit puns to convey the second meaning. Double entendres generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text."
