by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Yvonne Séguin

Age: 53

Occupation: Director of G.A.I.H.S.T.

Bio: Back when she was but a sweet young thing in her mid-20s, this no-nonsense West Island broad found herself an unwitting victim of sexual harassment courtesy of the president of the company she worked for. Rather than take the married stud up on the steamy lunchtime interludes he was offering her on his office sofa, Yvonne, suffering much personal anguish, was finally moved to take her case to the Human Rights Commission only to be “shocked at the treatment women received back then.” Vowing that “something needed to be done” so her daughter’s generation “never had to be subjected to anything like this,” she launched the precursor to the catchy-sounding Groupe d’aide et d’information sur le harcèlement sexuel au travail de la province de Québec (G.A.I.H.S.T.) back in 1980. Should you find yourself a victim of sexual or psychological harassment in your workplace, and, for some bizarre reason, aren’t actually enjoying all the special attention your irresitably sweet booty has been getting, rest comfortable in the knowledge that Yvonne and the good people of G.A.I.H.S.T will be there to help guide you through your ordeal.

One major difference between the calls she gets today and the ones she received back when G.A.I.H.S.T first opened for business in 1980: “Back then people would call up wanting to know if what they were experiencing was sexual harassment, and if there was anything that could actually be done about it. Whereas today people fully understand what it is and are much more demanding that something be done about it.”

Is sexual harassment as common as it might have been 40 years ago? “Absolutely. It sometimes makes me wonder whether people go to work to actually work or simply to engage in these power plays.”

The number of calls she’s received from studs enduring sexual harassment by their lusty female bosses? Not one in her entire career—although she does occasionally hear from twinks who are being harassed by fellow males in the workplace.

Another major difference between sexual harassment in the late 1970s and today: “In the ’70s you could be sexually harassed in the morning, quit your job, and have another job later that afternoon. But there’re no jobs anymore so people are tolerating these conditions for too long. So when women do finally come here, they’re much more depressed.”

What to do the next time your boss pinches your ass: Tell him you don’t appreciate it, are not at all interested in his attentions, and see if that stops the behaviour. If not, discreetly bring it up to your co-workers to see if anyone else has had similar experiences with the person in question. Somebody probably has. Finally, contact a support group—which you can find through your friendly neighborhood CLSC, or better, go to www.gaihst.qc.ca, and see what Yvonne can do for you.

Last book read: Ashes and the Amber, by Margaret Weis.

Words of wisdom: “Follow your intuition. When you get a bad feeling, chances are your feelings are right.”

Comments? dimwit@hdot.net