Complicit How Our Culture Enables Misbehaving Men

A thoroughly researched and deeply personal examination of how women unintentionally condone workplace abuse in a post-#MeToo world—and what we can do to change things for the better.

When Reah Bravo began working at the Charlie Rose show, the open secret of Rose’s conduct towards women didn’t deter her from pursuing a position she thought could launch her career in broadcast journalism. She considered herself more than capable of handling any unprofessional behavior that might come her way. But she soon learned a devastating truth: we don’t always react to abusive situations as we imagine we will.

When we live in a society where many feminist ideals are mainstream and women hold positions of power, how is it possible that sexual misconduct remains so prevalent? When many employers mandate trainings to prevent harassment of all kinds, why is workplace abuse still so rampant?

Weaving her own experience with those of other women and insights from experts, Bravo reveals the psychological and cultural forces that make us all enablers of a sexist and dangerous status quo. By bringing these hard truths into the light, Complicit charts an accessible path toward a better future.

Reah Bravo was a corporate speechwriter based in both Milan and New York, a career she began in 2008. She eventually joined the nearly half of all sexually harassed women in America who wind up leaving their jobs. Prior to that, she worked for the PBS program Charlie Rose, where she produced political and other news segments. She has her master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and served as a Fulbright Fellow in Bahrain. Bravo currently lives in Belgium, where she was a stay-at-home mom to two sons while writing Complicit. She credits the country’s family-friendly social policies for making possible what would have been far more difficult in the United States: the publication of her first book.