Workplace reviews and discussion: 文案的美有限公司

Can encounter many unexpected challenges in the workplace

At a time when Taiwan’s MeToo movement was erupting, I saw the person in charge publish a post about their daughter’s bodily boundaries, which inevitably reminded me of a dream I had about this company.

The person in charge describes themself internally as feminine in personality and, compared with most heterosexual men, more capable of empathizing with women. In addition, since the company is almost entirely staffed by women, they frequently show excessive concern for employees’ private romantic lives, comment on employees’ clothing and makeup, and pester employees to follow them on social media (reportedly, they later discovered that an employee had created another account and angrily unfriended everyone).

In the course of daily work, when face-to-face communication is occasionally necessary, they would walk over to an employee’s seat and poke female employees on the shoulder or arm with a finger. Several colleagues expressed their shock and said they were startled at the time, but the person in charge brushed it off with laughter. Most colleagues, constrained by their status as employees and concerned that the person in charge was skilled at emotional manipulation and that speaking up might affect other colleagues, did not dare say anything further. This included the day employees left the company: the person in charge would proactively open their arms and ask for a hug or hold an employee’s hand. Most female colleagues also did not dare refuse, in the interest of parting on good terms. The most outrageous incident even involved holding a departing employee’s hand and rubbing it against their face.

During their time working at this company, more or less everyone experienced or witnessed these uncomfortable incidents. Watching the person in charge defend their daughter’s bodily autonomy, I cannot help but wonder: if they understand that even when a little girl has not said she dislikes it, one should not touch her body arbitrarily, how did they forget this principle when the setting shifted to the workplace—and forget that they themselves occupy the more powerful position in an unequal power relationship?