As a young woman in the workplace in the 1980s and 90s, I can tell you that most women did not speak out against men’s inappropriate behavior unless they felt threatened. A lot of stuff that today would send someone straight to HR was laughed off as a joke.

Those of us who went through adolescence during the sexual revolution of 1970s became unsure of where to draw the line. Nobody wanted to be seen as uncool or a prude. We allowed people to get away with being inappropriate it we perceived it was more advantageous to do so than it would be to cry foul.

In high school, one of my art teachers started massaging my foot when my clog fell off in class. I was uncomfortable but I didn’t feel threatened because there were other people in the room and everyone treated it as a joke. I didn’t complain to anyone official, although I told everyone what a weirdo he was. I later found out he was fired years later for being inappropriate with someone else. I don’t know the details.

After college, I was working the night shift at a cable TV station and my older male co-worker tried to talk me into massaging his leg. That was a different situation. We were alone together all night in the master control room. The only other people in the building were two IT guys down the hall. I told him forget it and let our supervisor know the next day. He was reprimanded, left me alone, and was eventually fired for stealing equipment from work.