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[quote=Anonymous]I am literally the only woman in my workplace. Over the years I have developed a fairly thick skin - without going into too much detail, most of the men I work with are either single or they are living apart from their wives. Anyway, the hours are long, I'm probably the only woman some of these guys have contact with on any given day. I get hit on and I blow it off.

Yesterday though I kind of snapped. One of my colleagues is really "touchy feely" with me. His excuse is always to ask what brand of clothing I'm wearing, then grab the piece of apparel, pull it from my body and look at the label. I usually just pull away and tell him my husband buys my clothes and hope that he gets the message - I know that the first time he did it I should have told someone, or told him to stop, or whatever but he's a pretty important person on the staff and I don't want to look like I'm a problem for him.

As I'm writing this I realize I sound like I've enabled his bad behavior.

Anyway, yesterday I was alone in my office and he came in, asked what brand my sweater was - I told him I didn't know, and he reached for me - I pushed my chair back and said DON'T TOUCH ME.

He was totally taken aback and I guess I was too (I didn't plan on reacting like that - it just happened. I never raise my voice, really ever, at anyone). I kind of apologized, backpedaled and told him, it wasn't anything personal but I just didn't want anyone to touch me. He then started talking about all his connections and even used the phrase "do you know anything about me?" implying how powerful he is in our industry.

Part of me is afraid he's going to use his connections to get me fired at the end of this contract year based on the way he reacted. Part of me thinks he was just talking out loud to convince HIMSELF how powerful he is, to reassure himself that he can do whatever he wants (including touch his female colleague).

I don't really know what to do. I've lasted this long in an environment where I get hit on a lot (he's not the only one), where I overhear a lot of misogynistic banter, where the music played have lyrics that do nothing but degrade women - I'm tired of it all. I don't know who to talk to or what to do. I actually LOVE my job and love a lot of the people I work with. Only a few of the guys are problems. Finding a new job would be tough. Maybe I just need a place to vent. I don't know why I've hit a wall, but yesterday I think I hit my limit. I don't know how to even begin to change the environment. Realistically I think I have to just gut it out and hope me pushing back at this guy doesn't come back to haunt me.

Thanks for letting me vent and if anyone has any feedback (I know a lot of you would tell me to grow a spine) I'll gladly take it.[/quote]

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