The Gulf

It seems like in entertainment, politics and journalism men behave like they are in the USSR or post-Soviet space. Meaning, like total pigs. 

I’m sincerely glad this is not the case in academia. As a result of childhood trauma, I can’t tolerate anything that could even remotely resemble sexual harassment. So I’m happy I never felt it, saw it, heard about it, or smelled it in my profession. 

Of course, these reports are deepening the gulf between the elites and the regular folks who think “you people are all animals, I don’t know anybody who behaves like that.” 

10 thoughts on “The Gulf

  1. It seems like in entertainment, politics and journalism men behave like they are in the USSR or post-Soviet space.
    Bad thesis time:

    Don't forget IT and finance. 
    

    In spaces where this a lot of fierce competition and prestige, the sexual harassment is tolerated because it creates a quasi guild effect. In none of these occupations is it strictly necessary to have a college degree in order to do the job. Nor do any of these spaces have unions. I posit that absolutely necessary advanced education and unions lead to less sexual harassment.

    Academia is different for two reasons: the competition is already sky high, there’s unions in many places, and there’s a built in financial incentive not to tolerate sexual harassment — the Title IX. Also academia requires advanced degrees. Academia already has a guild effect going on without sexual harassment.
    In addition, academia already dealt with or has been dealing with the problems of sexual harassment for decades. You can’t be shocked by it or get into a moral panic about if you’re already there.

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    1. Harold Bloom, you mean? I met him when he was quite elderly and entirely uninterested in anything sexual. Earlier in life, he might have been a harasser but I got there way too late to see it.

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            1. That’s all gossip. It’s not what happened at all. It all has to do with disagreements over a tenure case. But it’s scary how easy it is to destroy a person’s reputation with innuendo and gossip. I would have believed it too if I didn’t know all the participants so well.

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  2. A lot of women in the service industry have to deal with piggishness, but from customers, not coworkers. And their boss will often tell them to suck it up.

    I had a creepy customer myself, although I am a man. Luckily my boss did not believe that “the customer is always right.” I also had some creepy coworkers, but that’s not the norm.


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