My name is not Lucy
“I was too shaken to begin a PhD for years” Lucy declined to provide a photo
My Worst Moment Sitting in HR while my boss painted me as an “unstable and emotional woman”. Also when he thrust me CV at me and shouted ‘everything on here is down to me,” and he believed that. When he downgraded my job and gave me all the truly awful tasks.
I Have Given Up On: Justice. My boss has gone on to international fame and is still surrounded by young intelligent women who are dependent on him for their careers.
I’m Afraid Of: The old stale pale male rules STEM. The rumors about male professors and their young female RAs are everywhere. We are disposable.
This Has Cost Me: I lost my job. I had to move to another area of health and start over. I was too shaken to begin a Phd for years. I worked as a low paid RA until my wounds started to heal. I trusted no one.
You Should Know: I was a young, funny and enthusiastic women when I started in this position. My boss was also relatively young and lots of fun to be around. I was part of his research team which was completely made up of young women with large breasts. We called ourselves the DD club. We worked hard for our boss and he rewarded us by putting us on publications (which we deserved) and taking us to conferences. At my first overseas conference he took me out and we got drunk and had sex. I didn’t want to but I didn’t want to offend him. I felt horrified the next day. After that he hounded me for more sex even though I made it clear I wasn’t going to do that again. One, he was married with a family and two, I did not find him at all physically attractive. Things broke down very quickly and he made my working life very difficult. He ended up taking me to HR. He must have been very confident I wouldn’t tell them what happed. I didn’t. I felt I had been complicit. I ended up leaving without another job and no references. I found out later he had affairs with other members of the team before, during and after my time.
Is There A Bright Side: I came to realize that my achievements were my own. Because I kept on achieving.
Fight Song: All star - Smashmouth
Secret Weapon: Humor