08


THE LEAD STORY HARASSMENT SURVEY


10.11.17 www.thebookseller.com


[I’ve experienced] industry colleagues taking liberties on a


dancefloor, on a walk home, in a taxi... I


have turned my head or my body to avoid intimate kisses and touching. On a few


occasions I have had private body parts offered to me. I have had to leave industry events where the situation has become too uncomfortable –Literary agent


A senior publisher sexually assaulted me—we walked back from a publishing event one evening, and he stuck his tongue down my throat, a hugely unwanted advance that left me feeling disgusted and traumatised –Author


“Report it? To who? They were the m.d/owner of their own companies,” said one respondent. Another said: “There would be absolutely no point [in reporting it]. I was so junior and he was—and is—so senior and so powerful. If I’d complained, it would have been easier to get rid of me than replace him.” Meanwhile, 66% of respondents


answered “No”, or “Not sure”, to a question asking whether they thought there were clear HR guidelines at their organisation for reporting harassment. Some expressed a lack of confidence in their organisation’s complaints system, with one respondent saying: “There’s never been anyone to report to, really. Or not anyone who would do anything about it.” Of those who did report what had happened, responses to complaints ranged from very supportive (“The result was [the] sacking of the individual”) to dismissive (“I was told it was ‘banter’ and I needed to deal


with it”), to non-existent (“Nothing happened”). One respondent said she reported harassment from an author but that no action was taken “because of the author’s stature within the company”. Many of the survey’s respondents said an overhaul of current practice was needed to tackle the problem of harassment, with better education and training on the issue and zero tolerance towards the perpetrators. One argued: “Senior management [needs to take] proper responsibility for policing and come down hard on the behaviour of their senior colleagues, not just turn a blind eye, failing to understand the seriousness of it or laughing it off.” More diversity in senior roles was a popular suggestion to combat harassment at work, with one respondent calling for “more female senior managers to help set a culture of respect for all colleagues.” Many said that they would like to


see clearer directives from human resource departments and the heads of their companies on harassment, and more visible and accessible channels of where and how to report it. Some said a confidential and anonymous helpline would be useful; many respondents requested an independent or cross-publisher body to which reports could be made. This would seen to be particularly helpful for people working in small companies or agencies, as well as freelances and authors, where there is no HR department or where it would be difficult to maintain anonymity. Other recommendations were for


employee contracts to include clauses specifying that harassment will be treated with disciplinary action, and a shift of the weight of responsibility from the victim to the perpetrator. Instead of telling employees to “be careful” around certain members of staff, the onus should be on making clear to culprits that their behaviour won’t be tolerated. Well over half of respondents


At a launch party, a drunk senior manager


groped my breasts. It was deeply upsetting and humiliating. I felt very powerless –Bookseller


(59%) said that the social aspect of the industry often puts employees in particularly vulnerable situations, and many respondents suggested a check on the industry’s drinking culture and steps to protect more junior members of staff at such events. Several respondents said more


Most authors are fabulous, but a few have made my life difficult at times. Also, being a publicist, you’re staying in hotels with them around the country, often as the only representative of your company. No one is there at the time to protect you and often they are such big-name authors that you wouldn’t dare tell anyone. Many publicists share these stories in the pub or in private—but I’d never have the guts to tell colleagues higher up. Who would believe me? –Publicist


open conversation and dialogue about what constitutes harassment and what is acceptable would help the industry move forward. One commented: “Harassment thrives on secrecy, so the more it’s being talked about, and the more women who are listened to, the harder it will be for abusers and harassers to continue undiscovered . . . A lot of people in the industry are already thinking about their behaviour differently [following the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the US]. Bringing these things out into the open is a start.”


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