Note: An earlier draft of this story appeared here in 2020.
During their second year at Wellesley, Leah and Dottie attend a computer conference at MIT, where crews from across the country are demonstrating systems and procedures developed in their labs. As they interact with different teams, particularly majority-female teams, rumors surface that Robb Dennison, a post-doctoral fellow from Berkeley, has been making unwanted advances on many of the female participants.
“This sort of crap happens all the time at these conferences,” one participant tells them.
“Why do you put up with it?” Leah asks.
Another explains: “We complain but nobody does anything. ‘Boys will be boys’ they always tell us. Give me a break.”
The first participant concurs. “Yeah. To make matters worse, Robb’s one of the facilitators of the conference and he’s made it clear that anyone making trouble might find it difficult to schedule their presentations.”
Leah wants to know more. “I want to get a look at this guy.”
“How will we know when we find him?” Dottie asks.
“I suspect we’ll know.”
At length, they find a small group gathered around a lanky, dark-haired man in a short-sleeved blue shirt with a clip-on tie, who seems to be directing the others. He’s wearing a name tag that reads, “Robb – Berkeley.”
Leah turns to Dottie. “I’m going catch his eye. See if he tries anything.”
“Think that’s wise? This guy’s pretty influential.”
“What’s he going to do to me? I’m not presenting. I have no investment in any of this.”
“Just to be safe, I’m going to hang out nearby.”
Dottie moves away and shadows Leah, who mills about where she’s certain to be noticed by Robb. He concludes the group encounter and leaves the others talking amongst themselves. As he’s passing, Robb glances in Leah’s direction, and they make eye contact. He gives her a much longer look and walks over.
“I thought I knew all the participants. Which team are you on?”
“Oh, I’m just an observer. From Wellesley. I’m Leah.”
“Nice to meet you, Leah.” He indicates his name tag. “As you can see, I’m Robb.”
“There’s so much going on. It’s overwhelming.”
“You just need a guide. Someone who can show you the ropes.”
Leah glances again at his name badge. “Well, Robb from Berkeley, I guess that must be you.”
He leads her around the conference center, pointing out different teams and explaining the importance of their work.
“I noticed that most of the teams you’ve highlighted were all male. Only a handful had women on them and no female teams. Why’s that?”
“I’m showing you the really important work that’s being done.”
“Women aren’t doing important work?”
“It’s important to them, of course. I’m not sure it will have much lasting impact.”
After a while, they settle near a conference room away from most of the crowd.
“So, you’re hoping for a career in computing. It’s a very competitive industry. It helps to know the right people.”
“I bet it does. What kind of opportunities exist for someone like me?”
“You’d be great as someone’s assistant, adjunct faculty, associate researcher.”
“Sounds pretty ground floor, if you ask me.”
“You need to prove yourself first. Show everyone you’re a team player. That’s where the opportunities are.” He runs his hand over her shoulder. “Are you a team player?”
He moves his hand across her shoulder and runs his thumb along her cheek.
“I’m not comfortable with this contact. Please remove your hand.”
“I sense some resistance on your part, Lisa. Do you really want to limit yourself like that?”
“It’s Leah and I’m not limiting myself. I’m telling you you’re making me feel uncomfortable. I’ll ask again. Please take your hand off me.”
He chuckles.
“So serious. What are you going to do about it?”
She slowly slides her hand across his, then grabs his thumb and jerks it backward. He yells and tries to pull away from her.
“I’d consider my next move very carefully.”
She maintains her grip for several seconds, then releases him. He grabs his thumb then tries to shake it out.
“I think it might be broken.”
“Aw, really? I guess you should have done as I asked the first time.”
He roughly pushes her and seems about to take a swing at her. Leah spins about and launches a roundhouse kick that catches him squarely on the jaw and sends him sprawling to the ground.
“I strongly recommend you don’t get up.”
Dottie runs over. “Leah? What’s going on?”
A man rushes past and stands between Leah and Robb.
“Robb? You okay, buddy?” He looks over his shoulder at Leah. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get out of here. Some of our colleagues are calling the cops.”
Dottie grabs Leah’s arm. “Come on.”
They start to walk away, but a man steps in front of Leah with his hand up. “Hold on, there.”
“Not a good idea,” Dottie says to the man.
Leah lowers her head, takes on a defensive posture.
He throws up his hands and steps aside. “Never mind.”
Dottie takes Leah’s arm and leads her away quickly. “That escalated awfully fast.”
Leah shakes her head. “He was hitting on me and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I had to state my case more forcefully.”
“You’re going to need to talk to the police.”
“No. I need to talk to a lawyer. The most important lesson I learned from my father was let the suits handle everything.”