The recent revelations about Harvey Weinstein’s serial predatory sexual harassment – and worse – over a period of more than 30 years have caused some serious debate and reflection. Crucial to this reflection is the realisation that Weinstein is not a monster – if by dubbing him a ‘monster’ the implication is that he is a freak, a one-off, someone whose behaviour can simply be shrugged off as an aberration so that we can (most of us) happily carry on as though none of this has anything to do with us. There is a spectrum here, from sexist comments and an unwelcome but (in the circumstances) non-threatening hand on your knee at one end to rape and serious sexual assault at the other. What puts all of these behaviours on the same spectrum is that typically they are done by men who – whether by virtue of their position of power or authority, or simply because they are men and they are used to getting away with it – are doing it (again, typically) to women.

That Weinstein managed to sink so low is, of course, unusual. But behaviour on that spectrum is spectacularly normal. We’re now seeing the snowball effect that has given the Weinstein case so much coverage happening at Westminster; but, as the #metoo phenomenon attests, it isn’t just in high-profile organisations that this kind of thing goes on. It’s everywhere. Just take a look at the Everyday Sexism website : on a single day, 26 October, there are reports of sexist jokes, lewd comments, groping (admittedly in one case done by a woman to a man), rape threats on social media, discrimination in the workplace, sexual assault, rape, and much else besides.

Unsurprisingly, the groves of academe – and in particular our own discipline, philosophy – are not immune from all this. Far from it. Just check out the What is it like to be a woman in philosophy? blog. There are high profile allegations and lawsuits relating to harassment and assault too, as documented in depressing articles in Buzzfeed, Daily Nous and the Huffington Post. These three cases all involved young, very junior women and much older, very senior – indeed famous in philosophy circles – men. Sound familiar?

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 "What Weinstein, Westminster and Philosophy share are traditional power differentials: older powerful men and younger women whose career can be broken with a bad reference or dismissive comments"
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Why do we let men get away with it? Sometimes – especially when we were young – nobody was telling us it was wrong or unacceptable, and so we just thought: that’s how things are. That student who made a crude comment about you in a seminar? He’s just an idiot – ignore him. That colleague who actually said to your face that he just can’t take women intellectually seriously when they’re wearing lipstick and heels? See above. Wait, did your senior colleague really just put his hand on your thigh? Maybe it was an accident. Oh, no, he’s done it again. Maybe he does that to everyone and he’s just trying to be … friendly. That senior professor who spent ages at the conference bar talking to you about your work like he was actually interested, and then invited you back to his hotel room? Maybe he just misread the signs and took your enthusiasm as a come-on. These things happen. (‘Oh, that senior professor’, your friends say later. ‘He’s always doing that’. Well, I guess some people are just really bad at reading the signs.)