emftZoys ffooz/semt/s o f women in Portland, sexual harassment and
V^auTTare uM espreadandoften unreported. Meet the people whTaretrying tochange that.
BY ELIZABETH BUELOW
working in the service industry in Portland
told Street Roots sexual harassment and
assault were rampant b u t seldom reported.
ifteen women have recently come
“I don’t know any woman who’s spent any
forward with allegations that a
time in a bar who hasn’t been harassed and
powerful figure in the West Coast
hasn’t felt safe,” said Jessica Rosengrant, a
cocktail scene assaulted them. The women,
longtime Portland bartender and survivor of
some from Portland, are sounding the alarr
through a blog, “The Reality of Sexual sexual assault. “People just don’t realize
how-pervasive it is.”
Assault in the Cocktail Community,” with
Rachel Debely, a server at a busy
graphic and often difficult-to-read entries
downtown Portland pub, grew weary when a
about their personal experiences.
Their homepage states: “We want to
new manager started to make lewd
stimulate a dialogue about what happened
suggestions, once telling her to “hike up her
skirt” if .she wanted to earn more tips. She
to us, why we sat in silence hurting for so
asked him to stop, but he refused. When she
long, how we can help others have a voice
noticed him being sexually suggestive to her
and how we can end sexual
coworker, a minor, she decided to take
assault”
"There are fast no good
action*
One
of
thé
accusers,
statistics because It so
“I knew I needed.to stop it,” Debely said.
Jeanelle Owings, of
sfida goes nnreported,"
“Sa I made a phone call to his boss.” In the
Portland, told Street Roots
Rosengrant said» "Si's the
end, the perpetrator was dismissed from
that she came forward
the company.
rape culture that makes
because “silence keeps
Sexual harassment is “much more
people sick. It’s so
people feel that they
prevalent than most think” in the service
important to speak out
deserve the treatm ent and
industry, Debely said. “But most girls don’t
because this is happening t<
don't recognize It as
report it because they try to put it out of
everybody.”
p ro b le m a tic /'
their minds,” she said, “or they don’t feel
According to a 2014
comfortable reporting it to their
JSSSICA ROSENG RANT, report from Restaurant
PO RTLAN D BARTENDER A N D
management staff for fear of not being taken
C O -FO U ND ER OF N O T O K R D X Opportunities Centers
seriously and losing shifts.”
United, there are “endemic’
The incidence rate of sexual harassment
levels of harassment in the
in the service industry is difficult to pin :
service industry, with at
least 90 percent of women working in
down for several reasons. Few complaints
are formally filed with the state labor
restaurants as tipped employees dealing
agency.
with it in some form.
From 2011 to 2016, the Oregon Bureau of
The Equal Employment Opportunity
Labor and Industries has investigated 87
Commission cites the restaurant industry as
complaints of sexual harassment in the
the “single largest” source of sexual
service industry in Clackamas, Washington
harassment claims in the U.S. Many women
CO NTR IBU TIN G W RITER
■
and Multnomah counties, making up about
18 percent of the sexual harassm ent
complaints in all industries combined.
Furthermore, an inquiry into the Oregon
Judicial Department found that its criminal
case tracking isn’t specific to an industry or
location of a crime, but instead focuses on
the type of case or the specific statute
violated - for example, “sex offense.” The
numbers aren t any easier to pinpoint on
the civil side, in which court records list
torts but do not narrow down which are ~
related to sexual assault and harassment.
“There are just no good statistics because
ft S° often goes unreported,” Rosengrant
said. “It’s the rape culture that makes
people feel that they deserve the treatm ent
and don’t recognize it as problematic ”
The statistics might not be there, but the
problem is.
Rosengrant detailed her experience: “I
was followed home from the bar by a guy
who worked with me. He tried to force
himself on me. I told him to fuck off, but he
grabbed me. So I pulled out my phone and
was able to get him to leave me alone that
way. Having someone on the other end of
the line makes a difference.”
Local workers’ stories
to thA P « T u Dt
of establishments
m the Portland bar and restaurant scene, to
addition to several online accounts, to get an
idea of how prevalent sexual harassment
See HARASSMENT, page 5