The unexpected response to the sexual harassment crisis

Larry Kummer, Editor

8 years ago

Summary: The next phase of the gender revolution has begun with the tsunami of stories of workplace sexual harassment. Already the response has begun. It’s unexpected, but historians will consider it obvious and predictable.

It’s a revolution!

“Suicide, investigation and a lawsuit follow booze-fueled UC Davis ag school retreat” — and a sexual harassment complaint! “Amazon Suspends Entertainment Chief Roy Price.” “Hundreds allege sex harassment, discrimination at Kay and Jared jewelry company.” “Five women accuse journalist and ‘Game Change’ co-author Mark Halperin of sexual harassment.” “Uber’s SVP of engineering is out after he did not disclose he left Google in a dispute over a sexual harassment allegation” — “Amit Singhal, a highly regarded engineer in Silicon Valley, denied the claims after top execs at the search giant presented them to him.” Settlements pile up against Bill O’Reilly at Fox. “Women in Tech Speak Frankly on Culture of Harassment.” The Air Force Academy had sexual harassment scandals in 2003 and after large-scale fixes, a jump in their numbers in 2014-15.

The plan is for us become happy buddies at work, toiling in unisex union.

The unintended consequences

The rules have changed. Now a single accusation of sexual harassment can damage a career, especially if it brings rivals out from under the rugs. Accusations can be made years later, with little or no supporting evidence (e.g., see David Brock’s book about the Anita Hill incident), driven by a wide range of motivations (from noble to malicious). There are few or no consequences to fake accusations if caught. Since some rape accusations are fake, then even more harassment accusations probably are.

Now men react to the new world, and new rules. Consider it a form of defensive driving.

(1) Pence was prudent and prescient.

“In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.” {Source: NYT.} Feminists criticized him; now he looks not just prudent but prescient. Others are following his example.

(2) Obvious but unexpected consequences.

“Unintended Consequences of Sexual Harassment Scandals by Claire Cain Miller in the NYT.

“In Silicon Valley, some male investors have declined one-on-one meetings with women, or rescheduled them from restaurants to conference rooms. On Wall Street, certain senior men have tried to avoid closed-door meetings with junior women. And in TV news, some male executives have scrupulously minded their words in conversations with female talent.

“In interviews, the men describe a heightened caution because of recent sexual harassment cases, and they worry that one accusation, or misunderstood comment, could end their careers. But their actions affect women’s careers, too — potentially depriving them of the kind of relationships that lead to promotions or investments.

“It’s an unintended consequence of a season of sex scandals. …

“‘A big chill came across Silicon Valley in the wake of all these stories, and people are hyperaware and scared of behaving wrongly, so I think they’re drawing all kinds of parameters,’ said a venture capitalist who spoke anonymously for the same reason. Some are avoiding solo meetings with female entrepreneurs, potential recruits and those who ask for an informational or networking meeting. …

“People were warier in jobs that emphasized appearance, as with certain restaurants or TV networks; in male-dominated industries like finance; and in jobs that involve stark power imbalances, like doctors or investors. …

“Dr. Mukund Komanduri, 50, an orthopedic surgeon with a practice outside Chicago, said he avoids being alone with female colleagues, particularly those he does not know well or who are subordinates. ‘I’m very cautious about it because my livelihood is on the line,’ he said. ‘If someone in your hospital says you had inappropriate contact with this woman, you get suspended for an investigation, and your life is over. …He mentioned a hospital colleague who lost his job because of harassment allegations. ‘That individual has created a hypersensitive atmosphere for every other physician,’ he said. ‘We basically stand 10 feet away from everyone we know.’

(3) Back to the future for America, as men and women get separate bicycles.

“It’s Not Just Mike Pence. Americans Are Wary of Being Alone With the Opposite Sex.” by Claire Cain Miller in the NYT. Opening…

“Men and women still don’t seem to have figured out how to work or socialize together. For many, according to a new Morning Consult poll conducted for The New York Times, it is better simply to avoid each other. Many men and women are wary of a range of one-on-one situations, the poll found.” {Click to enlarge graph.}

Conclusions

What happens next? We can only guess. But remember one of the great lessons of the 20th century, repeated in several nations so far in the 21st: Islāmic fundamentalists have proven that progress — the arrow of history — can run both forward and backwards.

For More Information

If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more information see all post about society and gender issues, about feminism, about rape, and especially these…

To understand, see where this began…

Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus by Laura Kipnis (2017). She is a professor of media studies at Northwestern University. From the publisher…

“From a highly regarded feminist cultural critic and professor comes a polemic arguing that the stifling sense of sexual danger sweeping American campuses doesn’t empower women, it impedes the fight for gender equality.

“Feminism is broken, argues Laura Kipnis. Anyone who thinks the sexual hysteria overtaking American campuses is a sign of gender progress is deranged.

“A committed feminist, Kipnis was surprised to find herself the object of a protest march by student activists at her university for writing an essay about sexual paranoia on campus. Next she was brought up on Title IX complaints for creating a “hostile environment.” Defying confidentiality strictures, she wrote a whistleblowing essay about the ensuing seventy-two-day investigation, which propelled her to the center of national debates over free speech, “safe spaces,” and the vast federal overreach of Title IX.

“In the process she uncovered an astonishing netherworld of accused professors and students, campus witch hunts, rigged investigations, and Title IX officers run amok. Then a trove of revealing documents fell into her lap, plunging her behind the scenes in an especially controversial case. Drawing on investigative reporting, cultural analysis, and her own experiences, Unwanted Advances demonstrates the chilling effect of this new sexual McCarthyism on higher education. Without minimizing the seriousness of campus assault, Kipnis argues for more honesty about the sexual realities and ambivalences hidden behind the notion of “rape culture.” Instead, regulation is replacing education, and women’s hard-won right to be treated as consenting adults is being repealed by well-meaning bureaucrats.

“Unwanted Advances is a risk-taking, often darkly funny interrogation of feminist paternalism, the covert sexual conservatism of hook-up culture, and the institutionalized backlash of holding men alone responsible for mutually drunken sex. It’s not just compulsively readable, it will change the national conversation.”