To M. Reese Everson, B.A.B.E.S stands for Beautiful, Ambitious, Brilliant Entrepreneurs.
Everson’s organization B.A.B.E.S in the Workplace is aimed at helping both entrepreneurs and other professional women end sexual harassment when they experience it. The company provides legal services and speaking opportunities to educate others, but hopes to expand their reach through an app, which is slated to be released in early 2018.
Unfortunately, Everson speaks from a place of experience, as she faced sexual harassment when she was beginning her career in the legal field, and again when she began working in politics.
“What I’ve found is that harassment, and specifically sexual harassment is a very dark place and a lonely place. There are very few places where you can go to confidentially share what’s going on with you.” Everson said. “So sometimes it’s just important to have a safe space to flesh out ‘what’s even going on?,’ processing. If someone says something, if someone did something, sometimes you need a place to sort through your own experience and perceptions.”
According to Everson, one important part of the process of diagnosing sexual harassment is defining what it is. Though this seems basic, misinformation about what constitutes sexual harassment can make recognizing and stopping it difficult.
“I think it’s critical that we have resources to help us define what it is, because unfortunately some young people don’t even know what it is that they’re experiencing, because they don’t quite know what the terms are, what it looks like. So all of these things will be addressed by the app,” Everson explained.
Unlike other apps, which focus on how to move on and heal after experiencing a sexual assault this app aims to address how to identify and stop sexual harassment.
“We do believe that you should have a support system to share with people who care about you, but when you’re trying to actually triage it and deal with it head on, this is before the stage of healing, The first stage is triage: how do you address the situation so that it stops? and then afterwards you deal with the healing.”
Everson plans to promote the app heavily on social media, using questions to draw in people who may have experienced sexual assault without even realizing it. She also plans to promote the app at women’s events, on college campuses and through churches.
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