“When I Least Expected It”: an Autoethnography of Reporting Workplace Sexual Harassment and Compassionate Bystanders”

Abstract

I present an evocative autoethnographic account of reporting workplace sexual harassment that illustrates the decision-making and satisfaction (or lack thereof) with reporting and interactions with and perceptions of compassionate bystanders not only during but also after the actual incident. While reporting is lauded as the key to deterrence and as a successful approach to dealing with the stresses of harassment, it alone does not fully address emotional harms associated with workplace sexual harassment in organizational environments often more compliant than compassionate. In contrast, this article aligns with emerging evidence that views bystanders as underused resources who can deter sexual harassment and bring needed respite to victim’s suffering through compassionate noticing, feeling, and responding. While my account is personal and cannot be generalized to others, it does offer both a familiar and theoretically informed narrative that describes the prolonged presence and engagement of compassionate bystanders in my experience of workplace sexual harassment and reveals bystander compassion as the key to offset the gap where reporting as remediation neither sufficiently heals the victim nor redresses persist sexual harassment in the workplace.