shut up!!!!

How dare a woman speak up for herself?! How dare she speak up on sexual harassment in the workplace? Women have been silenced for centuries. Silenced in their home for years, then they have the ability to go to the workforce and then silenced there as well. How is it still possible that a woman can't defend herself in the workplace by someone who has sexually harassed her? There are lengthy sexual harassment policies yet there are still million dollar sexual harassment lawsuits. But these settlements are supposed to make it all go away and make the victim SHUT UP!! 

Here's some money now don't speak on this again and let's all pretend it never happened...the end. Sadly this is how these settlements kind of turn out. With money, women are supposed to SHUT UP and not speak up. If she accepts the settlement money not only is it supposed to go away but in some agreements she is not to speak about the incident ever again. Settlements are a means to silence women. Then the perpetrator has the audacity to say all those women are liars. All of a sudden they are innocent and the victim was just after his money. The story completely changes and then the person that made the settlement she can't defend herself because she signed a statement that she wouldn't speak on the situation again. It's sickening that in this day and age we still are silenced one way or another! 

The biggest nightmare isn't the settlement - it's the fact that the perpetrator gets to victimize over and over again to different women. If the perpetrator is a powerful man with a lot of money and a disgusting company backing him what does he have to lose?! Chump change? Pay a couple of settlements with the help of the employer and there you have it  - all these women have to keep quiet. One major key of speaking up is for it not to happen ever again. Ladies when speaking up don't back down! It is perfectly fine to stand up against sexual harassment.