Sexual harassment at Asian agencies ‘rampant’ – with men abusing power of senior roles
Following Cindy Gallop's call-to-action against sexism and sexual harassment in the media and marketing industry, Mumbrella Asia's Eleanor Dickinson looks at the scale of the problem in this region
Nobody has ever denied that sexism and harassment exists within Asia’s media and marketing scene. However, it feels like nobody has ever really admitted it’s a major issue either.
While it’s never a good idea to jump on social media trends, the current ‘#MeToo’ hashtag phenomenon plus adland legend Cindy Gallop’s rallying cry for change made it clear that this was a conversation that needed to be publicly aired.
It was Cindy herself who told Mumbrella Asia earlier this year that it’s not uncommon to hear of “scary stuff” in the industry across Asia – even rape.
Therefore, below are the testimonies from three people – two women and one man – who have worked for many years in Singapore’s creative, media and public relations industries at a senior level. Their stories speak of clients abusing their power to gain sexual favours, senior men humiliating women publicly for their own personal amusement and the old grey area of ‘what happens in the bar, stays in the bar’.
Readers will note that all of the people interviewed remain anonymous. How can we change anything if people choose to hide their identities? Some of you might ask this question. But as our first interviewee reveals, there is still a fear of retribution and punishment for those that speak out.
It is the stories that are important, not the naming and shaming. We need to know if there is a dominant culture of abuse within the industry as a starting point. So this is the beginning, rather than the end, of the dialogue:
A senior female from Singapore’s creative and media industry
“I am not from Singapore, but most of the harassment I have experienced was while working here. The worst I have experienced was when I was leading an agency and was working with quite a senior client who, at company events, was very flirty towards me. I would politely tell him no you’re a client, you’re married. What are you doing? One time he called a meeting and invited me for drinks after – and I invited a male colleague of mine to come along.
“When we called the cab to go home, he insisted on my colleague being dropped off first. And then next thing, I find we are being dropped off at a romantic restaurant and I knew it was a set-up. I didn’t want to go. I told him it was inappropriate, but we was very insistent. He used his position as a client get his way with me. After that I took myself off the account and handed him off to a male business director.
“Another case happened when my account manager was meeting with a new client – who was connected to our CEO – to sign a new business contract in a coffee shop. During the meeting, he claimed he had left the papers in his hotel room and was very insistent that she went to his room with him.
“Despite her saying she would wait for him at the coffee shop, he was insistent. So she pretended she needed to go to the bathroom and then ran away. She was very upset and very reluctant to tell me because she had come away without the contract and the would-be client was the CEO’s friend. I was very pissed off and told the CEO what a sleaze his so-called referred client was and that we would not be taking his business.
“I think the biggest issue around harassment is when it becomes systemic and institutional within a company. There has to be a line drawn between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. To a certain extent, what is tolerated becomes ‘accepted’ and what is accepted over time becomes normal. There needs to be a culture that allows women not to feel they will be punished or threatened for speaking out against what is clearly unacceptable in the first place. Unless people can speak out without fear and get support from their companies, nothing will change.”
A senior woman working in Singapore’s creative industry
“I have experienced sexual harassment. I was at a party and a very senior male creative felt me up and then remarked to another senior from New York that I was single and ‘up for the taking’. The man from New York simply responded by saying he had met me before. I felt like a dog at a show.
“It wasn’t much of a surprise to be honest. I think there is a deep-rooted problem of sexual harassment among very senior creatives because these are very male-dominated environments. It’s not that agency culture condones sexual harassment, but it does put senior – male – creatives on a kind of pedestal.
“They are rock stars in the agency and they are used to getting away with treating people badly, and the senior management behave like puppy dogs around them. They allow the harassment to go on until it all ends in tears. The perpetrator is often forced to leave, but it’s the management that has let it get to that point by not nipping their behaviour in the bud earlier.
“In Singapore, it does seem to be largely older Western men harassing younger Asian women. And we’re not talking about what happens at the water cooler, it’s at parties. For years, we have made excuses that ‘it happened at a bar’ so people are getting away with it. Things are changing now because everyone is shit scared [of being accused], but agencies do need to step up and stop fostering this bad behaviour culture.”
A senior man from the PR and advertising industry in Singapore
“It is pretty rampant at agency parties, especially networks. And it’s because you find in those companies, the people are high up are not local – 99 per cent of the time it is young Asian women, often Singaporean Chinese, and older Western men.
“What happens at parties is that sober, intelligent people get sucked into the rule of the jungle and it becomes a grey area. In 10 parties I have been to, at nine I have seen men touching women inappropriately. They rely on the confusion it brings when someone is young and junior – it depends on power. These people are responsible for their bonuses. And often the women don’t come forward. The only time they do is when they are about to get fired.
“The worst thing is when it happens to very senior men, the only consequence is to move them to another market or country – like they do with priests. That is what needs to stop.”
Mumbrella Asia would like to hear your testimonies. If you wish to share them with us – either openly or anonymously – please contact the editor Eleanor Dickinson on eleanor@mumbrella.asia
Really don’t see the point of this. Anyone could have penned those.
ReplyAppreciate the sentiment, but you, personally, will need to be as driven as (say) Paltrow or Jolie for this to have any gravitas. There will need to be plans for a legal inquiry. The problem with Asia is this armchair bravery that hollers from the under the eaves of rooftops, and crawls to a grind. If that’s your goal, fine. On the other hand, let’s go beyond the PR. You could be the agent of real change.
Thanks Mumbrella for shining a light on this horrifying behaviour.
Some may say “what’s the point” in even trying to change the culture, but each story is a crack in the silence. This silences keeps fearful women trapped in situations where they are caught between making a complaint and knowing the agency will likely choose to protect the big bucks creative (gotta get those awards!). Making a fuss could result in complainant losing their livelihood or being labelled as a “troublemaker”. In Singapore, there are also cultural aspects which sees local staff unwilling to challenge senior colleagues, especially Western ones. Legal HR protections in Singapore are few, and there are so few women in senior management generally here to act as allies for young female staff. Predators will, and do, use all of these factors to their advantage to keep women silent.
We all know this is rampant in Singapore. But until men in senior roles are willing to call out other men’s poor behaviour, rather than turning a blind eye, it’s unlikely that things will change. For senior agency figures, calling an all hands meeting to explain that this behaviour is a firing offence and should be reported immediately – and anonymously – may be the only way to make a difference.
ReplyThis is the most entertaining article that I read this year.
Reply1) based on 3 unamed profiles. I do hope the senior female and senior woman in your personna are young and gorgeous. The stories they gave are more boring and predictable than any drama series.
2) this doesn’t only happen in Singapore. It happens anywhere, be it male or female. How do you define rampant without statistics? Was it getting from worse to better but still rampant?
3) there are people getting fired for many more reasons. firing does require evidence to be provided to HR. Well, I guess glassdoor does provide better resource than this website which suggests that sexual harassment in Asia is high.
Your comments alone shows the shallowness and disregard you have to such situation. Would it require graphs and numbers for you to move from the primate mind ?
ReplyEven talking about their beauty to make the article more interesting shows that the common sense lies in your pseudo name.
Grow a pair along your name and help this battle against such malpractices …even for 1 or 100 cases. God bless the female members of your family and friends.
Thanks for that Cindy. Though, too late for patience as more people suffer in silence.
We don’t need another hyped up media beginning. You will need to plot an end that’s tabled right now, so the rest of us know this is going somewhere.
You may have to do that singlehandedly, for now. The way those truly brave women in the West did. No point saying you can’t do it alone, because you shouldn’t have opened this can of worms without some sort of remedial plan in mind.
Megaphones are many. Activists are rare.
ReplySome of these comments are complete bollocks. Something needed to be said, and mUmbrella should be commended for saying it.
ReplyI know of at least one senior predator who’s deplorable actions were well known to the management….and guess his reward after they could finally take no more….the executive creative directorship of one of the biggest pharma accounts in Singapore. Did the hiring agency not do any background checks?
This kind of behaviour has been going on unchecked even before the internet existed. I have seen very senior agency men (locals) making open references to women private parts and sexual acts using colloquial singapore food references…while the women were present.
And the women reacted by giggling…wtf! The real question is, why did those men behave that way? I think it’s because the women didn’t shut them down on the spot…they let it fester and that emboldened these pricks even more, to make bolder moves.
Given what’s going on, employment contracts must clearly spell out what behaviour isn’t acceptable and what the consequences will be. Care must also be taken to protect men against vindictive women who concoct stories to get back at them for a perceived slight.
But whatever happens, I must say Cindy Gallop is the worst possible representative for women on this issue. I mean, this is a women who starts a talk attended by all sorts of conservative asian woman by saying things along the lines of “I’m here to talk about fucking”. You have to be a complete moron not to understand that she has built a career on saying shocking stuff for effect, and that is completely unbecoming of anyone hoping to champion a conversation on sexual harassment. I feel sexually harassed just reading her anti-male tirades.
Bottom line: men and women spend abnormally long hours in the workplace…so it isn’t unusual that an increasing amount of non-work related interaction will take place. I find it interesting that if handsome John were to tell a woman ‘that’s a nice skirt she would feel flattered and blush. But if corpulent Matt did the same thing, the same woman would think what a creepy pervert! Food for thought, ladies. Not sure what to think….looks like women only want good looking guys to talk dirty to them, make sexual advances and get into their pants. How convenient!
Now, more than ever, better communication between sexes is a must.
ReplyI think it’s industry knowledge who you are referring to. But good that he finally got his punishment when he was shamefully let go from his agency.
ReplyI work in media. there are also regularly young junior girls who use the excuse of drinking to throw themselves at senior CXO. #notkidding
ReplyThere is obviously an issue in Asia, as with all regions. However, I find the narrative of this story disappointing given the gravity of the topic. Western ad exec preys on giggly, but reluctant junior local who folds after a couple of free drinks?
As one of the earlier comments points out HR laws are almost entirely on the employers side in Singapore. Until all employees (men, women, expat, local) feel protected to speak up there will continue to be abuse of power by a minority.
Replypower is in the eye of the beholden. beauty is in the eye of the beholder
ReplyWorst thing that happened to me was getting randomly fingered by a senior planner in a bar. No I was not drunk, and yes he was drunk, but that is no excuse. Was fucking horrible and completely uncalled for. The guy didn’t even get fired after I reported it to the ceo.
ReplyWhat is ‘randomly fingered’? As opposed to being specifically fingered? How does a man’s finger reach that far behind closed doors without anyone in the bar noticing? Did you not scream instantly and remove yourself from his reach immediately? And why did you think telling the CEO was a better idea than telling the cops? Most bars have CCTV so there was change it might have been recorded. You do realise that without concrete evidence and timing your statement with the everyone-jump-on-harvey bandwagon, your motives are fuzzy. Creeps need to be tackled on the spot, not whenever you think is the right time. You’ve lost any momentum you might have had.
ReplyWow it’s really people like you who make it impossible for any woman to come forward if they have been assaulted. What makes you think she didnt do any of the stuff you mentioned? Maybe she was afraid to call the cops in case she had to deal with assholes like you talking shit. Seriously douchebag, get a cold hard look at yourself.
Reply^^ Im sorry you got fingered, but by not immediately involving the cops, you fingered yourself. Now, spurred on by a hashtag, you emerge when the embers at the crime scene are cold and nothing can be done. Sorry, you have no idea how to deal with sexual harassment. So don’t blame me for your folly.
I suggest you take a look at the posters in MRT stations that advise women what to do when molest occurs. Raising the alarm immediately is what the experts advise. Raising the alarm means screaming blue murder the minute you feel an assault. Not going to work the next day and telling your CEO. What is he/she going to do…..they have to keep the agency functioning….bars are not the ceo’s jurisdiction…it is the responsibility of law enforcement.
ReplyMen like you are the problem. Reading your self indulgent posts makes me so angry on behalf of the original poster as well as women in general. Your user name speaks for itself, showing how deeply rooted your sexism and full of shit-ness is. I sincerely hope you’re not someone in my office, I would be ashamed to work alongside someone with such juvenile archaic attitudes towards harassment.
ReplyWith your misguided view that if someone harasses you, everyone has to believe whatever you say, even if you decide to speak up months or weeks later. You may be right but you have to follow certain protocols. You cant say he touched me and then expect the person to be fired immediately on your say so. Investigations have to be done, evidence has to be collected and evaluated. It is not some kangaroo court on social media where the number of likes for you determine the guilt of the person you’re accusing. Grow up!
ReplyI’m really sad to realise (once again) that once someone comes forward to talk about sexual assault, some man would demand an explaination. Surely the woman was in the wrong! Surely she wants attention by voicing out! Surely she didn’t do enough to stop it from happening!
Well to that, I say fuck you.
If it’s worth anything, it wasn’t the first time that this senior planner assaulted women in the agency. Yes, IN the agency as well as at the bar nearby. So wouldn’t you say it makes sense for a formal complaint be made to the CEO?
It was a horrible experience and I couldn’t face him at the office the next day. The same sentiments were felt by the women he harassed and a lot of them felt they couldn’t come forward in case they get asked all the stupid questions you did. A junior planner had to quit because the harassment was so incessant.
So before you point your finger and demand all these answers, I echo the persons sentiment above. Go take a hard look in the mirror. You’re one of the reasons why women still are afraid to voice out.
ReplyOf course the most logical and sound thing is to report sexual harassment to the authorities (and what’s wrong with reporting it to a CEO? It’s their job and the company to make sure the work environment is safe for everyone). In an ideal world, we want the perpetrator to be reprimanded for their wrong doings. But most of the time that isn’t the case and I wish people like you would understand that.
“She should have reported it right then”, “Why did she only admit to this years after”, “Where’s the evidence?”, “Was she flirting with the man in the first place” All that victim blaming is what makes it so difficult for victims (both men and women) to even discuss this issue.
There’s a lot of embarrassment and sometimes shame that comes with being targeted by someone like that. And it takes a lot of courage to come forth, all with the risk that the perpetrator might not even be “punished”. If only people can see it from the POV of the victims..
ReplyBit sad, all this BS in advertising. When we should all be focusing on how to make inspiring work that consumers allow into their lives without shutting us out with blockers.
Resembles the last days of the Roman Empire.
Diddling while Rome burns.
ReplyAs a young woman who suffered sexual assault from family members and then as a career woman who again suffered at the hands of her colleagues I’m devastated to see so many come forward.
Nothing can be more disgusting than what continues to go on here in Asia. I would hazard that in a room full of men, the minority would be those that haven’t crossed the line.
Even at a particular internationally managed Singaporean agency which prides itself on British manners clients, account men, creatives and management still lurk with their sleazy comments and gross behaviours.
“No I don’t want to join you for the agency after party at Four Floors of Whores”, no I don’t want to find coke and hookers for you, Mr Client, and most of all I’m not interested in your hand being on my crutch.”
It’s the worst sort of sleaze because as you know, culturally in this region, young women are raised to actively utilize the power of their female sexuality for gain. This is a very Asian regional paradox. It is deliberate, which creates opportunity for them and their families. It’s difficult as a white woman in this world as the classic 4/10 man becomes a 9/10 in Asia. The ability to buy and access sex increases for men, which leads to challenging blurred lines. “Why do you say no when they all say yes? Are you frigid?!”
The most “family” of family men become quite altered when they get here and a lap dance is provided as part of the business transaction. First time it’s a shock and titilating, 4th time it’s anticipated. Clients ask to be taken to certain cities, clubs, locations for their meetings and account men grease the runway to make this happen.
ReplyI’m Chinese. Here is the rule managers hire salesman, if you’re a male you must good with the drink, business always after a bottom of Chinese vodka, if you’re a female you must sexual open and some drinks too, because after couple of bottom alcohol humanity fade away, only animal desire remain.
ReplyAnd sometimes if necessary sex trade as a value added.
I hate replaying memories, but unfortunately one such incident happened to me, which I half suspected led to my desire to leave the agency. Not having the courage to speak up when it happened, I look back regretting it now to some extent. Anyways mine happened at one of our typical gatherings, but this time we were out at a club, and there were drinking involved (obviously). At one point, he forced himself on me, trying to make out with me. He managed to for a sec or two, before I pushed him away (not sure if i did, or he pulled away). My memory is really vague at this point, but it really scarred me, so much so that i think i dissociated from that experience, and it almost feels as if it never happened. It only happened once (so far) in the agency world for me, but I’ve had few other occurrences outside (like groping etc), that it really SICKENS me when i also hear other women witnessing this DISGUSTING behavior. Both my sisters have had their fair share, one witnessed a homeless bum jerking off in a BUS sitting in front of her, while she was visiting in the US.
ReplyHave your say