I see both and sympathize with both sides of this.

The problem is that you just cannot sterilize the interactions of humans as much as some people (mostly on the left) wish they could be. It is just not possible, period.

I understand that it is tiring for women to get approached constantly. I understand that 100%. At the same time, there is this.

The most “thrilling” thing about him was not, of course, his ideas, but his “seniority” and “accomplishments”, i.e., the power he ostensibly wields. It was the false hope that she had impressed a senior member of her field intellectually that constitutes the violation here, not his incapacity to be impressed by a beautiful woman’s mind.

Mostly these discussions seem to promote (as the piece points out) the infantilization and removal of agency from women, and the solving of problems using methods by which they simply cannot be solved.

They should not assume, not at any time, that they can treat them as equal, autonomous adults, capable of managing and challenging boundaries. They should see them as extremely vulnerable. They should box them in.

No one — as I’ve pointed out before — gives a fuck about equality in most cases. It’s mostly just a contest for who should be able to wield the power unaccountably in each situation. Historically, it has been white males. It is worth fighting that. It is not however worth replacing it with its opposite IMO, or even with pretending everyone is a sexless, agamous automaton.

However, the end result of no one ever being attracted to anyone in any situation that vaguely has to do with work — well, we just aren’t robots and won’t be anytime soon.

I want to treat women as equals, not as wilting flowers who have no outside life and no capacity to handle the vagaries of the world. That’s all.