Almost 30 years ago I worked full-time at an alternative newspaper in Santa Barbara. I wrote articles and helped keep the community events section organized as well. Men and women worked there, there was smoking inside while working, pot smoking in the back, beer drinking at night while working late. A liberal bastion while Ronald Reagan was in office and his western white house shimmered in the hills close by.

One of the male writers who worked there started hassling me. He wanted to date me, I didn't want to date him. He lived with his girlfriend who also worked at the newspaper. But she was sufficiently oppressed by his ego that she said nothing while he openly courted me. I didn't want to date him. I didn't really even like him. When he finally realized I was serious he started to make my life a living hell. At first I ignored him. But then I realized something curious. I was a liberal woman working at a liberal newspaper getting sexually harrassed by a liberal man and nobody was batting an eye. I mean nobody.

I went to the Editor of the newspaper, a woman who was friends with this male writer. I told her the problem. She told me that that was just the way D. was and he didn't mean any harm, just put up with it, no big deal. I explained to her it was a big deal to me and it was seriously affecting my work and my being able to even come to work. She shrugged and poured herself another cup of coffee.

Here's what I did: I walked away from my dream job.

So it was with great dismay to see that almost 30 years later, nothing has changed for women in the workplace.

Nell Scovell, a former writer for David Letterman, with an impressive 20 year resume, weighed in this week on her experience as one of the very few female writers on his staff. She has also been writing for Vanity Fair since 1988.

When the news first broke that Letterman was being black-mailed by a staff member for his blatent affairs with women who work under him I listened bleakly to the rush, the whoosh! of defense to poor married Mr. Letterman. The men were all: "those women want to be with rich, successful men!" "The woman blackmailing him must have planned this from the start!" Well, it was a man who was blackmailing Letterman. CBS news producer Robert J. Halderman tried to extort $2 million dollars from Letterman to keep some of the comedians' sexual affairs quiet. Oopsy to all you men who screamed "Ho!" at the top of your lungs.

Totally missing the point that this is about workplace policies, not about a single man dating someone at work. And deftly tucked away was the fact he is married with a kid at home. Apparently if you are rich, and a "star" you have permission to prowl the halls for your next one night stand. Really. Who's going to say no to the boss?

I watched with disheartenment as my fellow feminist bloggers defended him to the hilt. "It's not about sex!" "How else do you meet people?" "Those ladies love it!" "His wife probably doesn't even mind!" and Barbara Walters weighed in on the View: "It isn't sexual harrassment."

Oh but Barbara, it is.

As Nell points out, there's a subset of sexual harrassment called sexual favoritism that, according to the Equal Opportunity Commision can lead to a "hostile work environment," often "creating an atmosphere that is demeaning to women." And that was her experience as a writer on the David Letterman show.

At this moment there are zero women working as comedy writers for various late shows, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien included. Nell describes her experience:

"Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Did these female staffers have access to information and wield power disproportionate to their job titles? Yes. Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no."

But I did say something at the time and it got me exactly nowhere. And I know thousands of women have said something at the time at their jobs and it got them exactly nowhere. So you can stop screaming in my ear that she should have "said" something. Oooh. That would make it stop.

Here's what she did: she walked away from her dream job.

She's coming forward now because she wants to pivot the discussion away from the bedroom and toward the writers' room, because "it pains me that almost 20 years later, the situation for female writers in late-night TV hasn't improved." She points out that shows "often rely on current (white, male) writers to recommend their funny (white, male) friends to be future (white, male) writers." Anybody who saw the movie "Funny People" starring Adam Sandler can't argue that fact. The whole movie showed how older men mentor younger men and younger men bring on board their male friends and so it goes. I believe my mothers generation called this "The Old Boys Network."

Perhaps male writers don't want women in the room. But Scovell points out "we're your co-workers, not your wives."

Sexual harrassment of women in the workplace is wrong. It robs a women of her right to employment, to be safe, to benefit from her years of education or experience. And it is wrong whether it is a liberal man like Letterman [or Clinton] or a conservative. To argue otherwise is intellectually dishonest and is the definition of double-standard.

The man who harrassed me almost 30 years ago went on to have a very successful writing career. He didn't have to worry about hostile work environments and also could rely on his network of male writers to recommend him to his next job. This creates economic disparity between the sexes on a huge scale.

To be able to work at a job you love without having to worry about the David Lettermans in the office trolling for sex. Must be nice.