on the page Public Service indicate that there are ways of acting that are no longer natural within the professional space and become harassment. Of these, 82% are the actions taken by some people to request or pressure victims to have sex.
Secondly, there is the attempt and occurrence of a sexual act with 79%, then come the emails and text messages via cell phone with 72%, a ranking that also includes consensual physical contact that goes beyond the limit, which is one of the most common contacts.
However, there are men who, regardless of the norms and statistics, or the fact that more and more women are raising their voices with these types of cases, use their position in companies to play a command role and thus achieve their objectives, but not exactly professional ones.
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There are many who seek to reach women with this, especially those who are beginning to look for professional opportunities, just as happened with me.
I never imagined that journalism, that dream that drove me since I was a child, would become a struggle to survive emotionally.
My name is Natalia and what I am going to tell is a story of work, but also of abuse, forced silences and the price that many women pay in the country’s media for wanting to work with dignity.
What began as an illusion of appearing on television and becoming a great journalist, ended up being overshadowed by the amount of insinuations and risqué attitudes that several men, most of them famous or in high positions in the media, had towards me.because I couldn’t understand that I had to be ‘calm and flexible’ with gestures and words that I really didn’t want to tolerate.
I arrived from Manizales to a renowned national media located in Bogotá with the hope of fulfilling the dream of being a great journalist. Over time I managed to get into one of the most important channels and I felt like I was achieving it, but very quickly I began to experience a situation that not even university classrooms tell you is going to happen.
Day by day I began to experience situations that I didn’t know how to name, but that made me feel uncomfortable, diminished and observed.
Progressively, the episodes of harassment manifested themselves through suggestive comments and hostile gestures, as they began as a simple flirtation such as: “You are very pretty”, “How pretty”, “I love your accent”… but then they begin with more indecent proposals and words with which you really do not know how to react.
On that important channel I found myself confronted with male figures in high positions and with recognized national career, The cases were even so repetitive that there were rumors in the hallway in which the cases were normalized, but the advice was always not to say anything because no bigger situation would happen and, on the contrary, I could end up being affected professionally.
However, the “nice” words from one of the channel’s “hard guys” became open expressions about his attraction to me and personal proposals that came through social networks.
I remember that among the first things he wrote to me was that he liked me physically, that he found me very attractive. and he invited me to be with him to pamper him, that person is married, has children and brags about that family situation on his social networks.
“Come and pamper me, okay?“, he wrote to me.
The insinuations continued on different platforms and led to inappropriate physical contacts in the same newsroom of the place, no matter who was there because no one did anything, it was like an open secret because when he left everyone commented that “that’s how it was and that he didn’t say anything”, since the women got used to the man rubbing their backs under their blouse, hugging them tightly, looking for their mouths to give corner kisses, etc.
But a situation that was too strong happened to me, one day, with the intention of giving him my resume so that he would take me into account in future selection processes, He told me to trust him and be calm, while in full view of all the other journalists he put his hand on my left breast.
We saw that episode with my partner at the time, since he was able to see the situation from afar, but all that happened was that we both became outraged in the office, and that’s it.
One day, that “tough guy” in the middle asked me in his office, closed the door “for confidentiality” and stood behind me while I was writing on his computer, since the idea was that I was supposed to explain to him how a platform that I knew how to use to obtain international information worked, but he started breathing on my neck and hugged me, as if his actions were part of the work environment.
Finally, it was my immediate boss who took me out of there because he called me “urgently” when he realized what was happening. I was very young, I was 21 years old, I didn’t really understand how to react and I simply remained static.
However, heThe situation escalated and through Instagram he told me directly that he wanted to have intimate encounters with me because he liked me.
In view of my silence he got tired of looking for me, until in 2025, even though I no longer work in that environment, he told me that he was still waiting for space, but that I was not paying attention to him.
I left that job and into a new professional experience, I came to a famous written medium in which another episode arose with an official who was in charge of an area to which I did not belong.
He was overly attentive with the invitations and I, with the same fear, tried to be condescending and kindly stopped him, but the comments in the company were against me: “She is getting involved”, “She is looking for him”, “She wants to grow professionally in exchange for that” and I got tired, so I asked him to keep his distance.
Even, given the development of the scene, at that moment I told my direct boss, who in response offered me support, but she really couldn’t do much, as she told me.
The harassment included an episode in which the person involved tried to protect himself from family problems and asked me to remain silent regarding possible communications from his wife.
“If my wife writes to you, so-and-so, please don’t answer her. On Tuesday I’ll explain what happened, don’t answer.” the man texted me one holiday.
Due to the magnitude of the situation and the fear of what could happen, on Tuesday I looked for him and asked him what had happened and, apparently, something happened to me inside his house, despite the fact that several times I told him to leave me alone, so he asked me to support him and remain silent.
I refused and decided to leave in writing that I never sought to be involved in other people’s personal situations, therefore I asked him not to cause me problems and he answered me confirming my version, while indicating that I could be calm and asked for my excuses.
“Nata, you are absolutely right. You don’t have candles at this funeral and that’s why I emphasized that I apologize for putting you in this situation. You have nothing to do with it (and for nothing in the world is your job in danger, ever). You were always very clear, that is clear to me. I’m only asking you what I’m asking in case she writes to you (which I don’t think will happen). Please excuse me for putting you in these; you don’t deserve it. I swear you will never receive problems from me again. Please excuse me and thank you very much for your help,” the man in question responded.
After this, I told my immediate boss again and training on the prohibition of harassment was carried out, actions that were limited to accompaniment without real repercussions for those responsible.
Simply, a support group for women was formed and every so often they asked us if something else had happened and that’s it.
However, at the time I was experiencing this in that company, there was also workplace harassment by the “hard guy” in the editorial office, eg boss, since he made recurring comments where he denigrated me or made me uncomfortable, such as introducing myself in front of his group and saying: “I brought this element, I don’t know if it’s just going to distract us or if it’s going to help us and work for us.”
Later, my work was never enough, it didn’t seem to him, I got to the point of crying and telling him that Going to work was becoming a difficult emotional situation for me to handle, something that he took as a joke and then he only told me things like: “Can you make such a note or are you going to cry?”
Added to these episodes were comments about my supposed social life, directed repeatedly and publicly, emphasizing that I spent my time partying or drinking liquor. For example: “I imagine that the one who is going to organize is Natalia, that the party is Natalia, the one who is going to party is Natalia, the drink with Natalia.”
In another stage, already in a different position but in the same large Colombian media in which the harassment issues arose, I experienced the impasse again, but in a work context where control and isolation marked my daily routine.
“I don’t like how you dress”, “Don’t say hello”, “Don’t talk”, “I didn’t hire you to make friends”, “It’s not for you to go to the bathroom”, were some of the phrases that the head of the digital area who invited me to work on his team told me, added to prohibitions on greeting old acquaintances and criticism of my behavior because it gave me something to talk about in the office.
He even spoke badly about me with one of my colleagues, telling him that I was dangerous, too friendly, that he should avoid contact with me, and the producer told me the whole situation.
Although in that job I tried to stay calm to preserve my place because I wanted to achieve my dreams, the retaliation reached its highest point when, After receiving professional opportunities directly from the director of the media, the person who was my immediate boss forbade me from accepting because he did not hire me for that and since I did not accept to stay with that determination, he made the decision to remove me without explanation.
Several people told me: “Go and file a complaint, he is like that, he has done that several times,” which is why I went to Human Resources, but they simply told me that he is like that, that he has several processes and we had to wait.
With my testimony I want to demonstrate a structure of power and institutional protection that maintains impunity for abusive behavior in the media environment in Colombia. Well to date and after talking even with more colleagues, the “hard guy” in the middle always wins, who are the ones who stay there, who continue doing their actions, who continue using other people and we remain silent, until now when I wanted to raise my voice.
