Welcome to the Broad Experience, the show about women, the workplace, and success.

I'm Ashley Milthight.

This time, there's outright sexual harassment, and there are the subtler forms of being put in your place as a woman.

We talked for probably 40 minutes.

At the end of the conversation, he says, okay, my dear, and hangs up. And I was stunned.

Then there's the question of what to do about it. I think it's important to speak up because I think a lot of

it comes out very unconsciously. I don't know that they really spent a lot of time thinking about, okay,

I'm going to demean that woman over there. I think it's just automatic. Coming up, the first of two

shows on sex and power in the 21st century workplace. I was at a birthday dinner in December, and the hostess said, have you ever done a show on sexual harassment?

She's a lawyer, and she talked about how this one judge always talks about her looks or the way she's dressed, but he doesn't take her seriously as an

attorney. He always addresses his business questions to her male colleague. Now, to a lot of people,

that's not quite sexual harassment, but it's certainly related, and so many women face this

kind of thing in their daily lives.

I'm going to start the show by talking about something some people think of as totally innocuous, terms of endearment.

I heard from a listener last year saying I'm in my mid-20s.

How are women like me meant to be taken seriously as professionals when vendors, clients, colleagues, they call us things like sweetheart and honey.

Ibi Caputo faced a similar problem recently.

She's a freelance journalist.

She lives in Boston.

She works in radio like me.

And not long ago, she was hired to work with a guy on his audio project.

She was brought on as his editor.

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