Falsely accused of sexual harassment, lost my job, career, dignity, reputation

About one year ago, the following happened at work.

I was asked by my manager to come over to her office. An HR person was sitting there. I had no idea why I had to come over.

• They said: we have received complaints from coworkers
• I asked: what kind of complaints?
• They answered: you know exactly what you have done. You are in serious trouble. These are serious complaints, you are suspended.
• They handed over a letter stating I was suspended, and that they will investigate 'the facts' before letting me know what they will decide. If 'the facts' were true, I would be fired.
• Completely suprised/shocked, I again asked what I had done, what these 'facts' are, again, no answer. I was forced to pack my bag and I was guided to the exit of the building.

A few days later, I was invited to discuss the outcome of the investigation.

According to my manager, safety for employees is important, and some coworkers 'felt unsafe'.

Therefore, given 'what I had done', they had decided I was fired.

At this point, I still had no idea what the accusations were, what the 'facts' were and what I had done wrong.

What followed was the accusation: I was being accused of sexual harassment.

I felt stabbed in my back, had no idea what to say, how to respond. Defending myself was futile, I was already fired. At the same time, I -surprisingly- felt sorry, for them. For being sunk that low that they would falsely accuse me of sexual harassment. I did not understand why. Why would anyone do this? Why me?

I was stabbed in my back by my coworkers, and it really really hurt. Following my dismissal, I had to make a decision:

1. fight for my rights in court, but more people would find out about the (false) accusations, my reputation would suffer even more, or
2. accept the situation, never talk about it again and find a new job, or
3. commit suicide and be done with it.

It may sound strange, but at that point in time, I was extremely stressed out, and I was very much ashamed (for something I did not even do). I may have suffered from acute depression, which made option 3 the most likely choice. Now I'm glad I didn't, instead, I decided to fight back.

In court, we settled. (The hearing was one big joke btw, with lies lies and more lies from my employer). But the damage was already done: I could never defend myself against false allegations, false statements of innocent-looking female coworkers who had sunk lower than sewer rats were taken as facts. My reputation was damaged (due to gossip), my dignity was take away from me.

The question remained: WHY, why did they do this? What did I do wrong?

Basically I was fired because some female coworkers were afraid of me, specifically, 'my eyes' and 'the way I looked at them'. Note that I was not at all interested in them 'that way', they were fat/married/butt ugly. One of them was a 'feminist'.

They prepared a fake report about (verbal) sexual harassment, to get rid of me. That fake report was taken as a fact and used as 'evidence' against me. They made everyone believe I did wrong, but I did not do anything wrong.

Now, one year later, I'm still recovering mentally/emotionally. Countless tears have been shed. My view of the world has changed. In this #MeToo era, where man-hating feminists seem to have taken over, I consider the world as a hostile environment for men. I know how it feels to be falsely accused of sexual harassment. My life is (temporarily) ruined and I don't trust women anymore.

Of course, my mother is the exception: she stood by me, supported me, and said: "son, you are not responsible for other people's feelings"

Society may judge otherwise, but I am not responsible for the feelings of mentally or emotionally damaged women. If they decide to hurt me because they are afraid of me and feel 'unsafe' (because of their own unresolved issues, not because of me or my actions), karma will get them sooner or later.

End.