Travelling Solo, Dealing With Sexual Harassment At Work & How To Tell Men To Leave You Alone

This week - travelling solo in your forties when you feel like all you want is a partner to travel with, telling men to leave you alone & dealing with sexual harassment at work. I’m 45 years old and the solo parent to 3 children. With the children close to independence I am turning my mind to my future and what I want. What I want to do is travel and I want to do it with a romantic partner. Without a decent man in sight and waking up disappointed each day that I’m not attracted to women the only other option is to go on my travels with a female friend. Unfortunately all my female friends are in seemingly happy relationships and wouldn’t be able to/want to spend months on the road with me. How can I plan a future of hedonism and adventure alone when I have been alone for the past 10+ years and yearn for the special companionship of a partner?  How do you react when random older men try to talk to you in a public place? I often find myself in the situation of sitting somewhere in public, most recently reading at the library when an older man will initiate a conversation. I’d really like to stand up for myself and tell them to leave me alone but I guess I just freeze and become very small. I’d love your advice on how to stand up for myself or at least get out of these situations instead of freezing because I always feel like such a pushover for giving these men the time of day. I’m 25 now and I’d really like to have more courage in this situation. I work in a small marketing agency in London, it’s my first office job post university and I’ve quickly climbed to quite a senior position in the company. Last year I was unwell with an eating disorder relapse and dealing with being very overworked among this. One night, under the promise of a pay rise, my boss invited me to a bar to talk where he made moves of a sexual nature. Though I was initially flattered and went along with it, I’d never have initiated anything like this. It happened twice more and both times I tried to shut it down. The final time he gave me drugs and I was severely intoxicated. After the final time, I became too unwell to return to work and eventually decided to tell our CEO exactly what had happened. Protocols have been followed but my grievance has only been partially upheld. The director handed in his notice but the CEO has convinced him to stay and feels passionate about keeping both of us in the business. I don’t want to have to quit because that way he wins, but I also don’t want to work alongside him. Any thought or advice you can share would be greatly appreciated.  If you have a question for Clementine, get in touch: [email protected]  CREDITS Audio Production: Adrian Walton Managing Producer: Elle Beattie Executive Producer: Edwina Stott  For more great Nova Podcasts head to novapodcasts.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.