Sexual harassment is an economic assault as well as a sexual and psychological one.

I spent this past summer writing a master’s thesis on the wicked problem of gender-based discrimination in the tech ecosystem. Six weeks into this project, in July of 2017, the Silicon Valley’s VC sexual harassment scandal broke open via The Information. Looking at the problem from a systems science perspective, it occurred to me that the “good guys” of tech could be enabling this dysfunctional dynamic — at least in part — by virtue of misunderstanding sexual harassment to be “inappropriate” or “embarrassing” instead of actually injurious.

This, I felt, might explain why known, serial sexual harassers — hello, Justin Caldbeck — could still find men willing to partner with them and to invest in their careers. Perhaps if men knew how detrimental this predatory behavior was, and if they understood the stakes, they might police each other more rigorously. In the midst of this consideration, I realized that I didn’t exactly have a handle on this aspect of the problem either.

I dug into the research to try to get clarity on the harmful impacts of sexual harassment. That investigation quickly led to the insight that I could design and build an agent-based model to explore the potentially systemic damage to the tech world being caused by VCs who were sexually harassing female founders. This article is not about that model; it is a TLDR version of one aspect of my thesis research. It is for anyone who struggles to understand, and who genuinely wants to know, why sexual harassment is such a shitty and wrenching experience for people.

Let’s start with an obvious point: sexual harassment isn’t the same as a violent assault. In many cases, victims aren’t handled physically at all, and those who are might be groped or forcibly kissed. On the spectrum of battery, which ranges from being spat on, at one end, to say being clubbed over the head on the other, having one’s ass grabbed seems relatively mild. Scary? Yes. Upsetting? Yes. But… the stuff of nightmares for years? Actually, also yes.

Harassers can and do induce serious psychological distress and diminished coping in their victims. Single instances of sexual harassment can leave people distraught and diverted away from ambitious career trajectories: Sexual harassment is an economic assault as well as a sexual and psychological one.

Strangely, but commonly, people blame themselves for being targeted for sexual harassment. They question their professional competence and their value as human beings. They self silence and grow anxious and afraid. People who have experienced sexual harassment report both acute and long-term effects such as nausea, sleeplessness, feelings of helplessness and isolation, as well as anxiety and depression. Even setting aside the practical problem of fearing a run in with one’s harasser in the workplace or at a work-adjacent activity, these feelings are not conducive to being a productive wage earner.

While no one is immune to the negative outcomes of sexual harassment, some of us may be even more vulnerable than others. People who have experienced sexual assault in the past may have a lower threshold or tolerance for this abuse. Women of Color may experience compounded injury or trauma by virtue of being at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. Note that the women who went on record to report their harassment by white techbro extraordinaire, Justin Caldbeck, were Asian American. Please see “Sexual Harassment in the Lives of Women of Color” by NiCole T. Buchanan, Ph.D., for work that illuminates the unique experiences of Women of Color with sexual harassment.

Prior to doing this research, it was hard for me to believe that some female tech entrepreneurs were abandoning efforts to fund their companies after sexual harassment experiences by predatory VCs. I am lucky to know women who have started tech companies, and they are absolute badasses. They are clever, persistent, funny, fearless, smart, powerful, and brave. And yet. Even these people can be completely thrown by this behavior. And as it turns out, this is actually unsurprising given the known outcomes of harassment experiences.

For an illustrative, first-person account of enduring sexual harassment’s special hell, please read Catherine Shu’s excellent TechCrunch piece, “The long term cost of sexual harassment”.

Shu wrote about a sexual harassment experience at the hands of 500 Startups venture partner, Tristan Pollock. Afterwards, Shu went through intense anxiety and fear, and an inability to attend networking events. Her account of the traumatic aftermath of that experience is supported by academic research indicating that women who experience sexual harassment will turn their backs on economic opportunities in order to distance themselves from a harasser. You can read Heather McLaughlin’s study, “The Economic and Career Effects of Sexual Harassment on Working Women” for more on this sad and enraging phenomenon.

The following account from “Sexual harassment in Silicon Valley: have we reached a tipping point?” relays a founder’s encounter with an unnamed sexual harasser: The entrepreneur Sarah Nadav was talking to a potential investor at drinks at a major tech conference, when he leaned over and stuck his tongue into her mouth. “I was like, what the hell? I’m a fucking CEO! What are you doing?” She pushed him off, but he tried again — this time more aggressively. Nadav ran away and that weekend made the decision to close down her startup and take a year off to “try to get physically and mentally back into shape”.

These kinds of stories should outrage any of us who care about creating a more equitable and just society. We need many, many more women leaders and executives. We do not need the best of us being chased out of our schools, organizations and industries by wealthy and/or powerful assholes who — up until this very amazing moment in history — have been operating almost exclusively with impunity.

If you have been targeted by a sexual harasser, I hope this piece gives you a special sense of pride in all the ways that you’ve managed to succeed in spite of this serious and real injury. You are strong and resilient, and you are not alone. If you are struggling and need support, the good people at RAINN are ready to talk to you: Call 800.656.HOPE (4673). Also, consider calling a lawyer.