Another day, and more allegations. I am broadly supportive of the recent movement but some of the allegations don't count as sexual harassment, much less assault, or at least not in my book. Some married men have been outed for hitting on women, with their phone conversations posted on Twitter for all to see. Going by the screenshots, the men didn't persist after being rebuffed an neither were they abusive.
This a gray area for me. Yes, these men are powerful and in some sense were trying to exploit their power. But they didn't have direct power over the women they targeted. The thought of powerful men trying to leverage their power to score with women is not a pleasant one. But, then, are relationships across a power differential proscribed? And, if you take the power differential out of the picture, then outing these men is an act of moral policing. Attempted adultery is not grounds for public defamation. On the other hand, leveraging power for sexual gains is something only men do, or so I imagine. Surely, this must be problematized. The thing about leveraging power for sexual gain (as opposed to, for example, leveraging looks or charm) is that one is never sure whether one is leveraging charisma that comes from the power or the implicit threat of using that power against the opposite person, if jilted.
Also, the didn't take "No" for an answer is a tricky area. I imagine few people give up after being told No once. They persist at least for a bit and try to convince the opposite person, and if they are half-decent they do so without threats or blackmail. So, how many NOs before you can say he didn't take No for an answer?
I was just talking to a friend from India, and he said a lot of the cases involved men being clumsy in their attempts to flirt, rather than being predatory. All I know is women in some circles are trying to renegotiate the boundaries of permissible sexual and romantic conduct. This renegotiation will be messy and there might be some undeserving victims. It might entail powerful men having to be prepared for public shaming if they choose to leverage their power for sex.
This a gray area for me. Yes, these men are powerful and in some sense were trying to exploit their power. But they didn't have direct power over the women they targeted. The thought of powerful men trying to leverage their power to score with women is not a pleasant one. But, then, are relationships across a power differential proscribed? And, if you take the power differential out of the picture, then outing these men is an act of moral policing. Attempted adultery is not grounds for public defamation. On the other hand, leveraging power for sexual gains is something only men do, or so I imagine. Surely, this must be problematized. The thing about leveraging power for sexual gain (as opposed to, for example, leveraging looks or charm) is that one is never sure whether one is leveraging charisma that comes from the power or the implicit threat of using that power against the opposite person, if jilted.
Also, the didn't take "No" for an answer is a tricky area. I imagine few people give up after being told No once. They persist at least for a bit and try to convince the opposite person, and if they are half-decent they do so without threats or blackmail. So, how many NOs before you can say he didn't take No for an answer?
I was just talking to a friend from India, and he said a lot of the cases involved men being clumsy in their attempts to flirt, rather than being predatory. All I know is women in some circles are trying to renegotiate the boundaries of permissible sexual and romantic conduct. This renegotiation will be messy and there might be some undeserving victims. It might entail powerful men having to be prepared for public shaming if they choose to leverage their power for sex.
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