I have a couple decades' experience with a situation just like this one, and have both written about it and gone on the record with journalists about it. I have one correction to your post -- men are in danger, but not in the way that's so often talked about. What I mean is: the kind of person who abuses women in this way often abuses men too, sometimes in a sexualized way, sometimes in other ways. They tend to see young male students as competition, and so try to bring them down. We just don't have a vocabulary to talk about it later, but the psychological effects can be just as strong. And beyond that: entire communities are in danger, because the shame and the collusion tend to tear them apart.
I write this not because I want to shift attention from the very real harms this kind of behaviour does to women, but because I'd like it to be recognized as a general problem, one that affects everyone in an academic community. As long as it's seen as something that only affects women, it's going to be marginalized, because women's pain is, fundamentally, not taken seriously.
You are completely right, Irina. Part of the reporting has uncovered this other pattern of abuse you are mentioning, and that story needs to be told as well. Glad this reached you, as it was on my list to send you to piece tomorrow, because I know you were interested in the topic.
Yeah -- and I should probably add, I don't just think the general damage/damage to men needs to be told for political or pragmatic reasons. All suffering counts. I'm just conscious that some might see it as deflection, whereas I think we'll make better institutions when we take all abuse seriously.
I have a couple decades' experience with a situation just like this one, and have both written about it and gone on the record with journalists about it. I have one correction to your post -- men are in danger, but not in the way that's so often talked about. What I mean is: the kind of person who abuses women in this way often abuses men too, sometimes in a sexualized way, sometimes in other ways. They tend to see young male students as competition, and so try to bring them down. We just don't have a vocabulary to talk about it later, but the psychological effects can be just as strong. And beyond that: entire communities are in danger, because the shame and the collusion tend to tear them apart.
I write this not because I want to shift attention from the very real harms this kind of behaviour does to women, but because I'd like it to be recognized as a general problem, one that affects everyone in an academic community. As long as it's seen as something that only affects women, it's going to be marginalized, because women's pain is, fundamentally, not taken seriously.
You are completely right, Irina. Part of the reporting has uncovered this other pattern of abuse you are mentioning, and that story needs to be told as well. Glad this reached you, as it was on my list to send you to piece tomorrow, because I know you were interested in the topic.
Yeah -- and I should probably add, I don't just think the general damage/damage to men needs to be told for political or pragmatic reasons. All suffering counts. I'm just conscious that some might see it as deflection, whereas I think we'll make better institutions when we take all abuse seriously.