Elizabeth was just 18 when she was raped by a colleague of hers at McDonalds, where she worked part-time during sixth form.
She went to the police, but nothing happened.
No charges, no consequences, no justice.
Her rapist walked free and kept his job.
Now, she is speaking out.
Having bravely waived her right to anonymity, Elizabeth (@ElizabethHaighx) wrote:
“No one tells you how much it hurts when a man forces himself into your frozen, shocked body. There is no manual that prepares you for the pain — the sheer, deadening terror — of losing your virginity to a rapist.
I said all the ‘right’ things. I told him I didn’t want to. I begged him, repeatedly, to stop.
But the man — a longer-serving colleague from McDonald’s where I worked part-time — raped me anyway.
And the chilling fact… is that the prevailing culture at McDonald’s not only failed to check this sort of outrageous behaviour, but turned a blind eye to it.
In short, predatory men were permitted to run amok.
There was no duty of care shown to female employees as young as 16, who had no recourse to help if they were harassed.
And male staff who flirted, made lewd sexual comments and touched young women inappropriately never faced reprimand from their seniors who were often as culpable of bad behaviour themselves.
An unspoken rule decreed that pretty female employees should be deployed in customer-facing roles. ‘Tits on tills’ was the crude aphorism used.
Nobody, in my experience, ever acknowledged it was a policy, but it happened routinely: attractive women worked front of house; men almost always in the kitchen.
Little wonder then, that the McDonald’s colleague who raped me, would be unlikely to face penalties at work for his crime.
Actually he felt entitled to abuse me without any fear that his actions would have consequences.”
And Elizabeth is not alone in her experience.
Hundreds of present and former McDonalds staff have recently spoken out about the culture of silence, sexism, sexual harassment within the company.
In a Northern Irish branch, sexual contact between managers and junior staffers (which is prohibited under McDonalds policy) was so rife there was an alleged outbreak of gonorrhoea.
A teenage worker in Devon claimed a senior manager choked and groped her.
Welsh McDonalds managers are alleged to have bet on who could sleep with new hires first.
And the list goes on.
For years, young women and girls working at the world’s largest fast-food chain have been left at the mercy of predatory managers and senior staff, while those in power turned a blind eye.
Why? Because McDonalds cared more about profits than protecting their own employees from harassment and abuse.
Enough is enough.
Change must happen.
Now.
In Australia, this football team just won the league championship.
Their captain went into the stands to get their waterboy, who has Down's Syndrome, so they could celebrate together.
#Humanity 🌏 🇦🇺
Yesterday we welcomed @cllrcammyday and Councillor Joan Griffiths to Craigroyston as part of our iPad rollout! Our pupils are very excited about receiving their new iPads! https://t.co/EG57RmE48V #CCHSsuperstars 💙💛💙💛
@Edinburgh_CC The green bins at Oakwood Court have still not been collected. We have been advised to leave them out since 6am last Friday. When will they be collected as the next scheduled date is not until the 16th and they have not been emptied since before the strike!??
@scotgov US have cut isolation to 5 days. England 7 days. No further restrictions in England. Hospital admissions down 50% on last December. A leading UK vaccine expert has said mass deaths and hospitalisation’s are a thing I’d the past. I’m sorry but what’s actually going on here??
Monday at 2pm is a historic event for Scotland and we wouldn’t want any of our young people (or staff) to miss out! Therefore the match will be streamed in class for those who want to watch! #EURO2020
@rickygervais Absolutely loved it! For some reason I used to avoid watching things you were in as I thought I did not like you. Now I love you as an actor Ricky! 😘❤️
In current strange times, it's easy to forget that exams still need to be taken and qualifications achieved. So how does taking a remote exam work? Fraser McCallum in the C+T Corporate Tax team outlines his experience #ciot#taxexam#remoteexam https://t.co/6MQauNPATk
Nick Ferrari: "I don't know how you're going to get out of this one but it's going to be fun"
It's quite rare to see Michael Gove realise mid-lie how ridiculous he sounds and backtrack but here it is
https://t.co/sebZCeFQPB