We’ve moved! After nearly three years of hosting Electric Literature on Medium, we have relaunched at electricliterature.com. The new website is the same Electric Literature you know and love, only with a new outfit (designed by CMYK) on a more independent platform. The new site also gives us autonomy over how our content is presented and organized — something we’ve missed during our years on Medium.

For more about the new site and what 10 years of online publishing means to Electric Literature, read Executive Director Halimah Marcus’s welcome letter.

But don’t worry, we’re not abandoning our old neighborhood completely. For the time being, we’ll be keeping 100 of our most popular posts at medium.com/electric-literature.

Check it out the new site! We think you’ll like it.

Electric Literature Has a Brand New Website was originally published in Electric Literature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As the director of a small non-profit, I’m basically my own boss. I’ve been there for nearly seven years; love my job, my work, and my colleagues, male and female. So I was conflicted about whether to strike for A Day Without Women. Would I be taking my good fortune for granted? Would I be attracting attention away from those who experience sexual harassment and discrimination in their workplaces? Today, the sexism I deal with is subtle, even subconscious. Sometimes it’s even self-inflicted. Most days, it hardly seems worth striking over.

But, like many women, I’ve experienced abuse and harassment. A small example: years ago, I had a boss asked me why I hadn’t packed “clubbing clothes” for our business trip. Apparently, we were going clubbing. And the dress I was wearing — simple, black, knee-length — should have been shorter and tighter. This is the same boss who, on my first day, told me that another assistant had said to him, “If I was your wife, I’d give you a blow job every day.” (“It was the best compliment ever!” he raved. He would not have permitted me to take this day off.)

At the time, I didn’t bother calling it, or thinking of it, as sexual harassment. I’ve actually told more elaborate versions of these stories prefaced by the incriminating disclaimer, “It wasn’t sexual harassment, but…” Who was I protecting? Not myself, that’s for sure. Too easily, that boss’s behavior became a joke. I shrugged it off. I accepted it. But, today, rather than accepting it, I’m taking account.

Today, I’m staying home for the times I have:
avoided speaking directly.
cleaned up after male colleagues.
used too many exclamation points.
apologized in an email when I didn’t mean it.
hugged someone when I rather just shake hands.

And for the times I have been:
called “brash”.
talked over and ignored in meetings.
assumed to work for men I supervise.
received a pitch addressed to Mr. Marcus.
asked what year I graduated college as a way to discover my age.
expected to take meeting notes because I “have the nicest handwriting”.

For the times you have:
felt a wandering hand.
flirted in order to be heard.
done work a man has taken credit for.
had to return to work after childbirth before you were ready.
received an unwelcome comment about your hair, skin, body, or outfit.

And for the times you have been:
called “bright.”
propositioned.
accused of flirting.
treated like a secretary.
undervalued and paid less.
expected to dress better than your boss.
passed over for a promotion you deserved.

This list is just a start, based on my limited experiences. Please share yours in the comments (whether you’re striking or not).