https://anchor.fm/jessica467/embed/episodes/Rutgers–Restaurants–and-Harassment-e2km20/a-a6la49

WOAH Twitter

WOAH Facebook

The Patch- Rutgers Rape Stats

Taking the Heat

Sexual Harassment in the Industry

WOAH tumblr

I struggled with doing what I needed to do on Audacity and found it unfriendly for beginning users. I found a very user friendly podcast site in my Apps. It’s called Anchor and online rates it one of the highest for creating podcasts. The music is licensed through the app and it easily allows you to copy and paste your vocals. I could change the order of each section I recorded by dragging and dropping the file within the app. It easily allowed me to add music to each section. Once you finish recording, music is provided and divided up by theme (upbeat, dramatic, curious) so you can chose what goes best with your topic. It also has interludes available which make the transition from one speech to another sound seamless.

My podcast delves into the two podcasts I listened to previously and I share some of my kitchen experiences which describe the culture inside a professional kitchen. Part of WOAH’s mission is to be a support group for women so one of my points was addressing female students who work at restaurants while going to Rutgers. Some women who struggle with the harsh environment in a kitchen could benefit from having a support group on campus that could help them make a change in their work place. Sexual Harassment and the new wave to meet this sensitive topic head on makes this the perfect time to explore and address women and the challenges they face in industrial kitchens.

Maria Lozano– Maria Writes

Sarah Osmun– Tattoos

Cara Smith– The Scarlet Knights

Erika Etkine– Erika Etkine

Light After Darkness Attribution ShareAlike Generic (CC by SA 2.0)

Purple Leaf Oxalis Attribution Generic (CC by 2.0)

Memes by Jessica Campbell Meme Generator

Since you said we could do a meme on anything we talked about during this semester I had to do it on your explanation of why phones and laptops suggest ads of things we talk about. I have to admit, it never occurred to me it wasn’t a sign or a coincidence that things I talked about appeared in online ads. Realizing my phone and laptop are always listening was eye opening. Also, you enlightening everyone on how it’s impossible to anonymously stalk someone’s page was interesting. I watched classmates cringe after they found out about the algorithms on Instagram and Facebook. It made me laugh because memes immediately popped in my head. Providing the opportunity to make memes on the anything, I couldn’t pass up touching on that class discussion. One of the things that I love about memes is the way the facial expressions displayed on some of them encompass how I actually feel. Woody’s face probably reflected mine thinking about everything I say near my phone or laptop going into a databank somewhere. The idea creeps me out. Just because they can do it to help market to an individual doesn’t mean it’s ethical to do so. What happens when someone else taps in? I’m sure people think it’s paranoia to say it, but the fact that they are listening to begin with is ridiculous. Who knows what else could be done with these recordings. That’s just something to mull over the next time an ad for White Castle pops up after you mention craving some sliders.

Women Organizing Against Harassment

Sexual Harassment in the Industry

Taking the Heat

This week I wanted to shed light on a non-profit organization on the Rutgers Campus, Women Organizing Against Harassment (WOAH). Being that sexual harassment for women working in kitchens is something we have all dealt with sometime or another I thought it would be prevalent to share some information about an organization working hard to empower women. WOAH’s mission is to stop violence and sexual assault on women and offer support to survivors of abuse. Links to their Facebook, tumblr, and twitter pages are available from the WOAH homepage. They have weekly meetings and organize events to reach the community with the hopes of bringing awareness about rape, the culture surrounding it, and enthusiastic consent. Their goal is to provide a community for women where they can be loved, understood, and built up. After 20 years in the culinary field I can speak from experience when I say, you better have tough skin. It shouldn’t be like that, but it is. Groups like WOAH give women the tools (and the friends) they need to get through difficult situations that can arise from living on campuses, working in the culinary field, or dealing with harassment on any level.

The other links I provided are to share with women in the industry or those who want to enter the industry- there will be struggles, but you can get through them. Deborah Harris in “Taking the Heat” highlights the struggles of women working as chefs in professional kitchens, from the gender hierarchy which forces them to continually prove their worth to the sexual harassment that goes along with the territory. There is a part in this podcast where Harris describes a woman chef telling another woman in the kitchen who is crying at work that her actions set the chef back 5 years. Front of house (FOH) female staff are allowed to have emotions but back of house (BOH) female staff have to be strong, able to take whatever is thrown their way and never show weakness. I’m going to take the time in a later post to interview a woman who has worked in restaurants to highlight some of the issues that Harris mentions encountering during her social study. Women Organizing Against Harassment is an organization whose mission addresses the culture of places where sexual harassment thrives, which is why the topic of female chefs resonates with WOAH’s target audience. Women often struggle with being marginalized in their place of employment and it is time to unite, to combat these practices and make a change for the future. The more these topics are brought up, the more women will be empowered by knowing they are not alone and they do have ways to fight against it.