Bravo's "Below Deck" Shows Sexual Harassment

From Cosmopolitan

On Tuesday night's episode of Below Deck, the Bravo reality show that features the crew of a chartered yacht, viewers noticed something disturbing. One of the crew members, stewardess Jen Howell, appeared to be sexually assaulted on camera, when a passenger groped her butt as Jen worked a dinner party. In that same scene, a passenger is heard telling Jen, “I think you’re very pretty” and another commented “cute AF.”

In response, Jen's manager, First Stewardess Kate Chastain, said in a confessional interview, “Unfortunately, a guest will be served too much [alcohol], so they think, maybe, Hey, I can sexually harass the yacht crew. However, as an experienced yachtie, you learn how to deal with these kind of charter guests. And, unfortunately, Jen is not a yachtie.”

Kate also told Jen directly, "Listen, Jen, I think you might be giving them mixed signals and you don’t realize it. You were like this [puts her hands around Jen's waist to demonstrate]." To which Jen responded, "I was getting her the f*ck out of here and I didn't want her to fall."

Earlier in the episode, Jen recounted an incident where a guest - the same one who later appeared to grope Jen - allegedly took her shirt off in front of the stewardess. The alleged incident wasn't shown, but you could hear Jen and the woman speaking through a door, and the woman is heard telling Jen, "You're not allowed to leave," "I'm giving you what you want," and "give me a hug." Before the door to the room was closed, the woman was heard telling Jen, “My husband likes you.” Later, in confessional, Jen said she'd never been propositioned by a married couple before.

The following day, ahead of a "girls in pearls, guys in ties" beach party, Kate - who was made aware of the alleged topless incident - offered Jen a pearl necklace with a whistle on it. "If you’re ever not feeling safe," she said.

Considering that more and more industries are speaking out about sexual assault and harassment right now, including the TV industry, many viewers were disturbed by Kate's reaction and the fact that the episode aired without some sort of corrective commentary. They took to Twitter to express their dismay.