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Thinx Founder Miki Agrawal Denies Female Employee’s Sexual Harassment Claims

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:20 PST, Mar 24, 2017

Most people would agree that just because you proclaim yourself a die-hard feminist doesn’t mean you can sexually harass women and get away with it.

Miki Agrawal, the co-founder of taboo breaker underwear company called Thinx, has come under fire after a former female employee had claimed Agrawal sexually harassed her, as well as engaged in other socially unacceptable behavior in the workplace. Miki Agrawal, who proclaims herself as staunch feminist, however, is denying claims of sexual harassment. Thinx has become popular largely thanks to its controversial ads that feature mandarins that resemble women’s genitalia.

Thinx became widely popular after manufacturing groundbreaking underwear for women during their periods. Thinx manufactures underwear that can be used as an alternative to tampons or pads.

And while Thinx has been praised for its feminist message, as well as ad campaigns that show there’s nothing abnormal about menstruation, Miki Agrawal may have just smeared the company’s reputation after claims of sexual harassment.

Interestingly, Agrawal resigned from her position as Thinx CEO and became the company’s chief vision officer weeks before the company’s former head of public relations, Chelsea Leibow, went public with sexual harassment allegations.

In addition to people questioning Miki Agrawal’s feminism ideals after the sexual harassment allegations, Thinx has also been plagued by claims of a disturbing workplace culture in the company, according to Fortune.

On Monday, Leibow filed a sexual harassment complaint with the New York Commission on Human Rights, claiming that Thinx co-founder Miki Agrawal engaged in routine sexual harassment attacks against her. Leibow alleges that Agrawal expressed socially unacceptable behavior toward Thinx predominantly female workplace, and even regularly touched the former Thinx employee’s breasts and asked to expose them in front of other staffers.

But Miki Agrawal’s alleged controversial behavior in the office doesn’t end there. The Thinx co-founder and staunch feminist also allegedly changed clothes in front of staffers, as well as regularly revealed juicy details about her sex life.

Miki Agrawal, whose company has been empowering women through its controversial ads, also allegedly held video conferences with staffers while wearing no clothes. Leibow claims she had been fired from Thinx in December after standing up to Agrawal’s sexual harassment.

In last week’s post on Thinx Medium blog, Miki Agrawal denied claims of sexual harassment and alleged that Leibow’s claims had been investigated by an employment law firm that found them baseless. The staunch feminist, however, admitted that she could be “passionate and oft unruly in my ways.”

“To be crystal clear, I know I’m passionate and oft unruly in my ways (as a taboo breaker must be), but I have never, ever crossed the line in the inflammatory ways described.”

Miki Agrawal didn’t further elaborate on the matter. A Thinx spokesperson declined to get into specifics of the sexual harassment allegations but assured that the company would hire a human resources executive. The underwear manufacturing company has no formal H.R. structure, even though it was founded in 2011.

Leibow declined to comment on her sexual harassment allegations or even provide a copy of her complaint, according to the Huffington Post.

Sexual harassment allegations against the seemingly die-hard feminist, Miki Agrawal, made headlines just a week after the media published a detailed report that unveiled the alleged horrors of Thinx workplace culture.

The story alleged that Thinx has unacceptable parental leave policies, “prohibitively expensive” healthcare policies, as well as stagnant wages. The workplace culture described in the report clearly goes against Thinx feminist efforts. However, further investigation is required to confirm or deny the report.

[Featured Image by Robin Marchant/Getty Images and Bonny Ghosh/AP Images]

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