IF THE RIGHT WANTED TO UNDERMINE THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITY OF ACADEMIA, IT COULDN’T DO BETTER THAN ACADEMIA HAS DONE FOR ITSELF:

Last month, during a conference for scholars who study international affairs, Simona Sharoni, a professor of women’s and gender studies at Merrimack College, asked a crowded hotel elevator what floor everyone needed. Richard Ned Lebow, a professor of political theory at King’s College London, replied, “Ladies’ lingerie” (or, as Sharoni remembers it, “Women’s lingerie.”) Several people laughed. Was that sexual harassment?

Academics have been debating the question among themselves since last month, when Sharoni filed a formal complaint about the incident, triggering an investigation by the International Studies Association. The ISA would later conclude that Lebow must apologize in writing by May 15.

So far, he has refused.

He should refuse, and the filing of such a complaint is itself a form of sexual harassment, and an indicator that Prof. Sharoni is not fit to attend public events.

And as I say, you could write a strong argument for patriarchy using only the things feminists say about the fragility of women.