We want to believe that, as we progress in our careers, we gain control over our working environment and escape the harassment we may have experienced earlier in our careers.
When I was in high school, a friend and I worked together at a record and movie rental store. Both managers and customers made sexual comments to us or would rub up against us in the checkout area. The comments were presented as jokes, and inappropriate touching was only ever done in cramped spaces where it could be seen as accidental. The harassment was pervasive. We never reported anything because we didn’t even know that reporting might have been an option.
As I have progressed in my career, I’ve seen the forms of harassment evolve, not just for myself, but for my professional and executive-level clients. Harassment doesn’t stop just because you become a lawyer, a doctor, or a senior leader. But it does change.
Early in my career, I didn’t know how to object or speak out. Now, as a business owner, I have more control over the culture of my office and team and that gives me some peace of mind. But so many other women do not have that. In fact, they often face a catch-22: the more prominent their jobs and the greater their responsibilities, the more they have to lose.
Executive-Level Harassment: It Gets More Complicated
Harassment can take many forms, but sexually explicit jokes and comments are often more nuanced or covert at the executive level. Some comments are made in a conspiratorial way, as if the target is in on the joke. At other times, executives face thinly veiled discrimination, such as someone interfering with their work, marginalizing them in meetings or assignments, diminishing them in front of clients or other stakeholders, or simply making off-hand gendered comments.
Even at the executive level though, harassment can be overtly sexual. Flirting, touching, and worse can still occur. The problem is that people often expect experienced women, especially those in leadership positions, to be responsible for the behaviors of others. If alcohol is involved, she had too much to drink or should have monitored others’ intake better. If someone gropes her, it’s because of how she engaged in conversation or even what she was wearing. If she has boundaries, she’s uptight. If she complains, she’s a problem. Managing harassment doesn’t get easier with age or experience. It simply gets more complicated.
Women Often Have Few Available Options
Earlier this year, a woman filed a lawsuit against Joy Taylor, Skip Bayless, and Charlie Dixon of Fox Sports alleging that Taylor rose through the ranks because of a years-long affair with Dixon. Another woman, a former on-air correspondent, filed an additional suit against Bayless and Dixon implying that Taylor’s ascension at Fox Sports had adverse consequences for the plaintiff. These suits reveal just how complicated harassment can be for women at the pinnacle of their careers.
Although the two female plaintiffs allege sexual harassment by Bayless and Dixon, Taylor has faced widespread attacks on social media and podcasts, both for allowing the harassment to happen and for allegedly having an affair with Dixon. Irin Carmon’s article in The Cut, “Did Joy Taylor Play the Game?” highlights some of the sexualized attacks on Taylor. For example, a former co-host of an earlier iteration of Taylor’s show, Speak, went on a podcast hosted by Jason Whitlock in January 2025 and used her as an example to question whether women should be on sports television at all and proceeded to imply that she got the job because of her “big pair of cans.”
In the lawsuit that names Taylor as a defendant, it is alleged that she discriminated against a Fox Sports hairstylist based on race and national origin. The two were formerly friends and the plaintiff alleges that Taylor was sleeping with Dixon and, therefore, was dismissive of the plaintiff’s concerns when she complained about harassment from Dixon and Bayless.
Taylor has achieved a lot in the very male-dominated space of sports news. And she may have discriminated against her friend. And she may have turned a blind eye to workplace harassment. But it’s interesting that a portion of the public has made Taylor the center of a story that is more about two powerful men. Taylor’s story illustrates that women can become a target whether they take a stance against harassment or not.
This is not to say that women are not or cannot be a part of perpetuating harassment—clearly Taylor’s story demonstrates that. But she has a lot to lose standing up to men who control her career. And given the current reactions and lack of public support for women who do challenge harassment, it is hard to see what she would have had to gain professionally. When the choice is between an individual’s career or doing the right thing in a working world that supports bad behavior, it is hard to see what safe and viable options she had.
A First Step is Recognition
I wish I could write that there’s some sort of happy ending to this dispute or that I can offer executive women my secret recipe for avoiding or overcoming harassment. But the truth is, it only gets more complicated as you rise in the ranks, hitting professional goals, gaining notoriety, and, at times, having to fend off unwanted attention.
The least we can do is recognize the complexity of what executive women commonly face at work and have some empathy for their circumstances. Everyone deserves the ability to grow their skills in a safe and supportive environment, without the fear of retaliation or criticism from all sides. Instead of simply blaming Taylor, as her online detractors have done, hopefully her story can lead us to better see the difficulties that surround executive women and strive to change things for the better.
Harassment can be stopped if more women and men work together to stop it, but we need to ensure workplaces protect those who speak out. Understanding the full context of a situation and extending empathy matter—and so does workplace culture.