Things I predict will happen when I name my most significant harasser in my discipline, not necessarily in chronological order:
(Note at the outset: I’ve no plans to pursue legal or even professional consequences for him. It’s been 23 years.)
His colleagues & fans will speak to his philosophical contributions.
They will question my philosophical contributions.
They will question my philosophical contributions.
There will be women who’ve worked or studied with him announcing that he never harassed or assaulted THEM, so …
My history will be scrutinized to determine whether I have some grievance against him I’m trying to advance by naming him.
My history will be scrutinized to discover mental health issues that would make it OK to dismiss my testimony about what happened.
My history will be scrutinized for any not-hostile interactions with him in the 23 years since he sexually assaulted me.
The very fact that 23 years have elapsed will be used to decide the sexual assault must not have been that bad, if it even happened.
His supporters will point to his alcoholism as exculpatory.
His supporters will suggest that the circumstances of the assault were ambiguous – that he didn’t see what he did as sexual assault.
His supporters will point to his public stance as an advocate for women in philosophy to deny that he would of assaulted me, or to say my assault is less important than his advocacy.
His department & university will never ever invite me as a speaker, workshop participant, etc.
His friends in the discipline will work their networks to ensure I am seen as unstable, a troublemaker, someone to keep off of governing boards & program committees.
His friends in the discipline will advise students & early career folks to keep their distance from me.
Someone will assert that 23 years ago, we were in “different times” than we are now.
Members of our discipline will assert that “beyond a reasonable doubt” is a standard that should govern how we form opinions in everyday life, not just a jury box.
My friends will ask me why I want to cause trouble rather than just keeping the information to myself.
Someone will ask me how I feel about letting him get away with whatever other harassment & assault he may have committed in the intervening 23 years …
… and they will ask me why I didn’t get official university (or law enforcement) channels mobilized at the time, when I was a brand-new grad student.
Tl;dr: I expect lots of negative consequences & very few positive ones will follow when I name this member of my discipline who harassed & assaulted me.
People who harass understand this landscape of consequences. It’s part of how they have cover to harass.
We ought to change this landscape (at least if we care about harassment & assault). Doing so, however, will almost surely come at the cost of survivors being revictimized.
Another thing that may happen (via a friend on FB): the man who sexually assaulted me may sue me when I name him.
And people in our discipline are more likely to support his suing me than they are to support my speaking up.
Note also: I'm a full professor with tenure. I'm white. If I weren't both of these things, I'd anticipate even worse negative consequences.
ANOTHER likely consequence: I'll be asked why I am hurting the family of the man who sexually assaulted me by naming him.
