WOMEN ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME FORWARD WITH THEIR STORIES. JOINING ME IS MELANIE MARY -- MASON.You have reported that this effort in California politics started with one woman. I believe her name is a Tom a. What did she do?She had an unpleasant situation with colleagues where she got inappropriate advances in full view of her friends. Her mail colleagues did not notice what was going on. I think that stunned her. In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, she said people were oblivious.What kinds of sexual harassment are being alleged by the women coming forward?It runs the gamut. The women I spoke to, I talked to a couple people on the record that talk about their experiences. It ranges from a woman who said she was groped by out lobbyist and the legislature she told said not to cause a ruckus. There was a lobbyist who said from the beginning of her career she only wore pantsuit because she wanted to project a business only vibe. There are women who talk about some commonplace and every day types of harassment. Sexual Indirect -- innuendo and unwanted touching. Meetings should take place off-site. There is a woman who mentioned that she thinks a lot of men act as if they are at some kind of camp. They are away from home and the rules don't apply.That is an important factor. There is a capital culture. It is a little bit like summer camp. You have a lot of people appear who are not living where they live there day-to-day lives. They away from their family. Most events happen within a three mile radius of each other. A lot of things go one after work where there is alcohol involved. It can be a party atmosphere sometimes. I think that is where the lines can get blurred about what is appropriate and what crosses the line.There are no names named in these accusations of the men alleged to have done the harassing. Why is that?That was a decision by the women who put the leather desk letter together. This is not equivalent to the Harvey wines Dean scandal. It is not just one person. I think there are people, there are whispers and names coming up, they said you can name five people but it is larger than that. It is more about a permissive culture and the idea that when women are harassed, there are not strong protections for them. There are no independent bodies where they can go to make a complaint and feel like they are being heard and protected. That by naming names you might distract from the larger problem. It is about a larger, cultural issue.What has been the reaction from political leaders?I reached out to leaders in the Senate and assembly to say, this is a heads up. These women are going to be saying that there is a problem here and what you have to say about it? They all condemned the fact that it happens in politics. They pointed to the fact that there are processes in place that are mandatory. They have training and investigation processes. The state legislator said that the Senate will review its policies to see if there are gaps that can be filled in terms of protecting women when they make these complaints.Additionally, there is a new website for women in California politics. I believe that is to get more women to tell their stories, is that correct?Yes. Women said what they were struck by is how hard it is to recognize this type of Savior when it happens to you. There is an obvious almost movie perception of what sexual harassment is, lewd and lascivious behavior. There is much more subtle behavior that goes on that is inappropriate. It might be hard to identify. For younger women, they thought it was important to go public and identify that and say to people who are starting out, this type of behavior is also not okay. Because you are not roughed up doesn't mean that behavior is okay.I have been speaking with Melanie Mason. Reporter for the LA Times. Thank You.Thank you so much.
The recent furor over the alleged serial sexual abuse by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has prompted conversations about sexual harassment in other places, including Sacramento.
More than 140 women who work as legislators, staff and lobbyists at the state capitol have signed a letter to expose what they call a pervasive culture of sexual harassment.
Los Angeles Times reporter Melanie Mason covered the effort and joined Midday Edition on Tuesday to discuss what the group hopes to accomplish with the letter.
