I’m sure many of you have seen advertisements for Thinx; a company that makes underwear that can be worn during menstruation as a substitute or a supplement to traditional feminine hygiene products. Despite some critique and skepticism, Thinx is still a fairly successful, mostly female run company that is selling a product to benefit women. This company has prided itself on being female-friendly and body-positive. However, recent allegations have put the company into a completely different light.
Miki Agrawal, co-founder and ex-CEO of Thinx, has recently been accused of sexually harassing her employees. Chelsea Leibow is a former employee that insistently expressed her concerns to the employees acting as the HR department (though there was no official HR department at the time). The examples of inappropriate behavior on Agrawal’s behalf go on and on, including: talking about an employee’s breasts and asking her to expose them, fat-shaming employees behind their backs, routinely changing clothes in front of employees, conducting meetings via video conference on the toilet/in bed assumingly unclothed, talking about her desire to experiment with polyamory and her interest in entering a sexual relationship with one of her employees. There are plenty more accusations from other former employees and some current employees as well. A week after Leibow made her final complaint, she was fired for supposed poor performance.
Chelsea Leibow (first photo) and Miki Agrawal (second photo)
Agrawal has denied these allegations and defends herself by saying that her actions and words were taken out of context. But here is the context: a mostly female work environment, a company working to better women’s lives, and many employees who got along and were even good friends outside of work. Of course there are going to be conversations about personal matters, about sex and their bodies. However, this environment does not excuse overstepping the boundary into sexual harassment. Engaging in sexualized touching without consent, undressing in a glass-walled office (and often in the open, co-working space as well), and constantly commenting on your employee’s “beautiful breasts” are all fine examples of sexual harassment. Simply because this company is an underwear company and has a majority of female employees does not mean that all boundaries of the workplace should be dismissed. Professionalism is still necessary, even in a progressive company.
In addition, there have been employee complaints regarding low pay and poor benefits. It seems these matters are now being addressed by those higher up in the company since Agrawal has been fired. I think it is important to remember that feminism does in fact mean equality, and that this means female bosses should be held to the same standard as male bosses. Feminism should not be used to excuse female to female harassment, because sexual harassment is not restricted by gender. On a positive note, I believe we should all take note of Leibow’s persistence and her bravery in standing up for a situation she saw as wrong. Thinx has released multiple statements declaring there are going to be changes made to better their company, and those changes were sparked by Leibow.