I need to learn how to do workplace sexual harassment---it's for a story, I swear

[joy_of_cooking]

I wrote a throwaway line into another story:

"She got stuck in Ulaanbataar once. Snowed in. No flights out for three days. She ended up sharing a room with one of the partners. Somehow. He wasn't the kind that kept his hands to himself."

And now I really want to read that story, even if that means I have to write it myself.

There's a certain simplicity of motivation that really appeals to me. She's a junior associate, trying not to get raped but also trying not to piss off the guy who can make or break her career with a word. He's a powerful man used to getting what he wants, and at the moment what he wants is a way to pass the time while they're stuck in this little room. The stakes are high. The scene is set. Action!

The only problem ("problem") is I have zero knowledge of how such a situation would realistically unfold. Is there any way to get even a passable understanding in a few hours? Or should I just accept that I'm not the right person to tell this story?

 

[NotWise]

In the modern world, I don't think that situation would realistically unfold. But why worry about realism? Just make it kind of truthy (er... give it verisimilitude).

He finds her attractive, and gives her attention. She's flattered and give him head.

Or alternatively, she resists his advances until she will be more damaged by resisting than by giving in, but she keeps her clothes unwashed as evidence and threatens to take him to court unless...

You can let that unfold any way you want. Personally, I'd make her rational and make him overconfident.

 

[MrPixel]

In the modern world, I don't think that situation would realistically unfold.

That was my thought as well. Regardless of the "exotic" nature of whatever city they are in, if the MMC is somebody in a position of considerable power or wealth, then they will be staying in a Western-style hotel. In that situation the assistant (or whoever) would appeal to the front desk or management at check-in time that she and the partner were not in a relationship and could they please find an arrangement where they were not sharing quarters. It would be accommodated.

 

[AwkwardMD]

It doesn't exactly cover what you're talking about, but it's in the neighborhood:

https://literotica.com/s/human-resource

 

[SimonDoom]

Forget knowledge of "how such a situation would realistically unfold." Instead, spend time working on your characters and their motivations in a way that would make the encounter at least somewhat plausible, on its own terms. Internal plausibility (verisimilitude) is far more important than whether it conforms to things going on in the real world. Don't shy away from writing something just because you don't have personal experience with it or don't think you're an expert on the subject.

 

[Bramblethorn]

That was my thought as well. Regardless of the "exotic" nature of whatever city they are in, if the MMC is somebody in a position of considerable power or wealth, then they will be staying in a Western-style hotel. In that situation the assistant (or whoever) would appeal to the front desk or management at check-in time that she and the partner were not in a relationship and could they please find an arrangement where they were not sharing quarters. It would be accommodated.

Some orgs do require colleagues to share rooms on work trips:

https://www.askamanager.org/2015/01...tel-room-with-a-stranger-at-a-conference.html
https://www.askamanager.org/2015/12...om-with-my-boss-on-an-international-trip.html

And sometimes that ends up in messed-up places. I don't think any of these AAM examples are opposite-gender, but this still seems like something that shouldn't happen:

https://www.askamanager.org/2016/06/i-had-to-share-a-bed-with-a-coworker-on-a-business-trip.html

The kind of guy who will sexually harass an underling is also the kind of guy who will engineer a situation where he's in the position to do so. Maybe that means bribing the hotel staff to lose a room booking, maybe it's sabotaging the toilet or whatever so that one of their rooms is unusable and they just have to share. If there's a snowstorm blocking flights, there may genuinely not be enough rooms to find one for everybody.

Depending on how assertive he is, he might bare-face it at check-in. If he says "yes" to sharing a room before she has a chance to say no, that puts her in a position where she has to either go along with that situation or directly go against somebody more senior, which not everybody is going to feel able to do.

Predators have their tactics.

 

[John_Vandermeer]

The way I see it, how they end up sharing a room is just a detail. Sure you want it to be plausible enough that reader buys it, but there are several ways that works out. No other room available is simplest. Or, as already mentioned, one is offered by staff and accepted by partner, which puts the associate in a position of having to say "but...". More important is the overall attitude/posture/state of mind of partner and associate that leads partner to corner associate into place where he wants her to be. Heck, just watch any of a zillion recent movies/shows about Roger Ailes, Harvey Weinstein, or the like. And I, personally, do think that kind of stuff still does happen plenty.

NC/R tone story I presume?

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I have the rough setup in place, but I was looking for more detailed examples of how people do the harassment.

My ideal would be to read a few transcripts of actual workplace harassment, or at least after-the-fact accounts of such conversations. I have this vague idea that there might be uncomfortable "jokes," "accidental" contact, maybe pushing alcohol? Presumably one doesn't just walk up to a woman and tell her to suck dick or go home, right?

Don't shy away from writing something just because you don't have personal experience with it or don't think you're an expert on the subject.

In this case I know this will be a sensitive subject for a significant fraction of my readers, so I wanted to make sure I didn't turn them off immediately by doing something obviously unrealistic.

Predators have their tactics.

Yeah, this particular one I was thinking that the hotel would genuinely run out of rooms and then the partner would take advantage by accepting the single room and daring the new girl to do something explicitly contrary, like find a stranger to swap rooms with.

NC/R tone story I presume?

Definitely, although I want to find a way to make the FMC not wholly a victim. Still thinking about how to do that one.

 

[lilshymynx]

There's a good example of sexual harassment in the 2nd chapter of @MelissaBaby's "The Adventures of Ranger Ramona"

It starts about 3/4 down page 8 https://www.literotica.com/s/the-adventures-of-ranger-ramona-ch-02?page=8 then finishes up starting with the 4th paragraph on page 9. (There's some other story elements between the two parts).

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I wrote a throwaway line into another story:

"She got stuck in Ulaanbataar once. Snowed in. No flights out for three days. She ended up sharing a room with one of the partners. Somehow. He wasn't the kind that kept his hands to himself."

And now I really want to read that story, even if that means I have to write it myself.

There's a certain simplicity of motivation that really appeals to me. She's a junior associate, trying not to get raped but also trying not to piss off the guy who can make or break her career with a word. He's a powerful man used to getting what he wants, and at the moment what he wants is a way to pass the time while they're stuck in this little room. The stakes are high. The scene is set. Action!

The only problem ("problem") is I have zero knowledge of how such a situation would realistically unfold. Is there any way to get even a passable understanding in a few hours? Or should I just accept that I'm not the right person to tell this story?

'Wish List' was something I wrote along the same lines, only mine was consensual. Two of them get snowed in and they have to share a room. And they decide it might be fun to act out a few fantasies with each other until the weather clears.

 

[Britva415]

And now I really want to read that story, even if that means I have to write it myself.

Simple - what do you want to read?

No, seriously - what is it about this situation which seems sexy to you? Write that.

It seems to me that the only realistic detail you have to include is her thinking "no," or maybe even going as far as daring to say "no" out loud.

All the rest of it - the hell with how realistic it is. The details can't possibly have anything to do with what it is about the power dynamic which is of interest to you. They're just details.

Unless I'm completely wrong about what it is about this that's sexy to you. Are pedantic "well ackshully it would really go like this" details it?

Anyway your thread title cracked me up, because it reminded me of the many times my peers and I all had to sit through some hours of workplace sexual harassment training and come out the other side of it saying "now I know exactly how to do sexual harassment at work, thanks HR."

 

[Jmanchu]

Realistic? That might be a tough one. Because realistic could mean a lot of things... maybe don't do realistic, just do fun.

Definitely, although I want to find a way to make the FMC not wholly a victim. Still thinking about how to do that one.

This is just one random potential idea if you wanna play around with any part of it however you like. Or not. It's cool.

Maybe a cat-and-mouse game with uncomfortable power dynamics between them: She can get him in trouble with HR if he gets too inappropriate or and gets her bad side. Every time he tries to flirt with her, while she doesn't always shut him down and sometimes even invites his creeping and unsolicited flirting, she gives mixed signals and leaves him guessing. Sometimes warm, sometimes cold. Maybe she doesn't exactly know whether she wants to sleep with him, or even maybe she doesn't want to. She finds him kind of crude or creepy at times, but she enjoys the attention and loves feeling just out of his reach, even if barely.

But he has that power to ruin her career if she gets on his bad side and he's a wicked and unethical enough dude to do so and he tries to leverage that to see if he can get what he wants out of her. That leverage to see if he can use his power and position to get her to do what he wants is his stake in the power game. But she's \hard to read whether she'll give up or be fiesty and put up a fight. If he pushes too hard he doesn't know if she'll call HR on him. That's the stake against him. They keep this dark game going with the power dynamics and which one has the advantage over the other constantly shifting in the dangerous and dirty mental chess between them.

That's how I'd probably make the stakes high and leave her not wholly a victim. She needs some sort of power and be a player not a victim in that power dynamics game before she gets checkmated and then being stuck in that hotel room with him. Or she gives up trying to fight him at the end.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have the rough setup in place, but I was looking for more detailed examples of how people do the harassment.

My ideal would be to read a few transcripts of actual workplace harassment, or at least after-the-fact accounts of such conversations. I have this vague idea that there might be uncomfortable "jokes," "accidental" contact, maybe pushing alcohol? Presumably one doesn't just walk up to a woman and tell her to suck dick or go home, right?

AFAICT, it depends a lot on what the perps think they can get away with. In workplaces where sexual harassment and outright assault are part of the culture, they may be quite direct, but those other things you mention are very common.

A big part of it is testing and eroding boundaries. As a couple of us were discussing recently, people often use "just joking! .....or?" on unacceptable things as a way of pushing the boundaries on those topics. If the boss talks about how fuckable his PA is, and she objects, she's a humorless bitch who can't take a joke; if she doesn't, clearly she's okay with that. And then he can push the boundaries a little more. In company, it's also a way of testing how much their colleagues will let him get away with and for predatory types to find potential allies.

Another common tactic is marginalising the target socially, or picking one who's already there, so that if she does speak out she won't be supported and can easily be written off as crazy/lying/vengeful.

Another is trying to create some kind of "debt" - I was nice to you, now you owe me something. (And if I don't get what I want, I might take it away again.)

And, yes, pushing alcohol on people is common.

nb: use of "he" for the predator and "she" for the target above are based on OP's scenario, not suggesting that harassment is always male-on-female.

 

[oneagainst]

Alcohol, flirting, touching, drunk in bed together, second thoughts next day. Solves the requirements. Meh.

A properly sinister MMC is a lot more cunning than that. Try doing it without alcohol as the magic wand, and it becomes a duel between them, where at the end, she loses and ends up in bed. I have a few ideas, but I guess it's your story - go with what you think's best. I wouldn't get hung up on doing research... more important would be to nail the characters of the FMC and the MMC and see how they circle each other.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I recommend you write the story.

I do not recommend you use it as an excuse for why you’re sexually harassing someone.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I recommend you write the story.

I do not recommend you use it as an excuse for why you’re sexually harassing someone.

Uh, is the joke that I'm going to go harass someone as research for my story? I'm not that dedicated to my craft, thank goodness.

The partner is going to be unambiguously a bad guy, if you mean excusing it that way.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Some orgs do require colleagues to share rooms on work trips:

https://www.askamanager.org/2015/01...tel-room-with-a-stranger-at-a-conference.html
https://www.askamanager.org/2015/12...om-with-my-boss-on-an-international-trip.html

And sometimes that ends up in messed-up places. I don't think any of these AAM examples are opposite-gender, but this still seems like something that shouldn't happen:

https://www.askamanager.org/2016/06/i-had-to-share-a-bed-with-a-coworker-on-a-business-trip.html

The kind of guy who will sexually harass an underling is also the kind of guy who will engineer a situation where he's in the position to do so. Maybe that means bribing the hotel staff to lose a room booking, maybe it's sabotaging the toilet or whatever so that one of their rooms is unusable and they just have to share. If there's a snowstorm blocking flights, there may genuinely not be enough rooms to find one for everybody.

Depending on how assertive he is, he might bare-face it at check-in. If he says "yes" to sharing a room before she has a chance to say no, that puts her in a position where she has to either go along with that situation or directly go against somebody more senior, which not everybody is going to feel able to do.

Predators have their tactics.

I worked in places like that. It was always a joke, till it wasn't anymore. But they could still claim they were just kidding around.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Uh, is the joke that I'm going to go harass someone as research for my story? I'm not that dedicated to my craft, thank goodness.

The partner is going to be unambiguously a bad guy, if you mean excusing it that way.

“Phew” said em!

 

[AwkwardMD]

There are 4 separate threads of workplace harrassment in Human Resource, three of which are explicitly sexual harrassment, and all of them happened either to me or to someone I know personally. I didn’t have to try hard or look far for examples.

 

[djrip]

I encourage you to go ahead and write your ideas as you have them.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

In the modern world, I don't think that situation would realistically unfold.

We are talking about Ulaanbataar. Since ~3 people on Literotica have actually been to Ulaanbataar, you can write anything you want.

But even in the US: Blizzard hits, skip the airport and go from work directly to nearest hotel, you were slow to get there, sorry, only one room, next hotel is 3 miles away with a blizzard going on.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Most workplace sexual harassment takes the form of comments and awkward conversations or grabbing a woman by the hand. Though the grabbing is usually customers.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Though if we're indulging the fantastic I've written a story where a guy gets away with it because he's a harder employee to replace than the person he's harassing. When they threaten to go to HR he basically asks, "Who do you think they're going to fired over this? The engineer running the project, or the security gaurd?"

 

[Bramblethorn]

Though if we're indulging the fantastic I've written a story where a guy gets away with it because he's a harder employee to replace than the person he's harassing. When they threaten to go to HR he basically asks, "Who do you think they're going to fired over this? The engineer running the project, or the security gaurd?"

Depressingly plausible, in some places.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Yeah, I was about to say, that doesn't seem so fantastic to me.