"I didn’t know what to do. He was important. He wasn’t my superior, but he was certainly in a superior position to mine."

"I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know how to at the time. I knew it was wrong. It was gross. He’s gross. He’s gross."

Said Dianna Goldberg, who "was a young researcher at ABC News in 1994 when she asked a colleague, Mark Halperin, for some information about a story. He readily agreed to help her and asked her to come to his office. Close the door, he said when she arrived. Come over here, he said, seated at his desk. Sit down and I’ll give you the information, he said. He motioned to his lap.... She reluctantly agreed and sat down briefly. Halperin, she recalled on Wednesday, had an erection. The same routine happened on three or four other occasions, she said. Each instance left her confused, shaken and ashamed." (WaPo.)

She was, as she tells of it now, "confused, shaken and ashamed."

How do you think he felt? Do you think he imagined he was instigating a playful, fun relationship? Do you think he got off on her youthful confusion and his superiority and ability to command lap-sitting? Do you think he was a sadistic jerk?

I'm wondering how many men* there are out there — in many different lines of work — who know that this could happen to them too, who are going back over all their workplace encounters, thinking about who might decide to go public or — through a lawyer — threaten to go public, with a vocalization — at long last — of her** experience, long ago. Who out there could throw your life into chaos and how much money do you have to purchase nondisclosure agreements?

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* We'll get to the women later.

** Or his.