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February 28, 2013

Comments

Matthew

The issue is still sex to the extent that those in such positions of power are disproportionately men and to the extent that this is one end of a spectrum of ways in which men continually victimise women (specifically sexual behaviour of this sort is uniquely disturbing and almost uniformly something carried out by men towards women). I'm not disagreeing that it's about power; more noting that power relations are inextricably tied up with gender relations as things stand right now. We can't ignore gender when asking why the victims might have felt they couldn't have spoken out more forcefully.

Andrew

I can't put my finger on it, but I think Chris you have an unclear understanding of what power is.

If this is misuse of power, what is correct use of it? Is merely reflecting the will of the electorate to the best of your abilities actually any use of power?

Doesn't power imply a degree of discretion to put your own ends above others? And isn't that "immoral"?

If a perfect robot were designed and elected to optimally execute public will, could that mechanism truly be described as wielding power, if in fact its actions are determined (in a strong sense of the word) by voters opinions?

Isn't personal power just the "cut" or margin that agents of other peoples power retain for themselves? The source of the agent problem.

You seem concerned to develop an efficient distribution of that power, keeping those margins as tight as possible, with high competition.

I'm not yet sure how Marx helps with this analysis.

I feel you often fall into a trap of thinking that it can be regulated by the application of top-down concentration of power by the state. But isn't that self-contradictory?

Have you considered what factors might lead to the maintenance of power in a more even distribution? Aren't they mostly going to be down to geography, technology and long term/historical educational and social factors?

FromArseToElbow

Re Matthew's comment that "power relations are inextricably tied up with gender relations as things stand right now. We can't ignore gender when asking why the victims might have felt they couldn't have spoken out more forcefully."

The point is not to ignore gender, but to recognise that gender itself reflects power. Left unchecked, any disequilibrium of power will tend to increase. Consequently, the practice of power seeks to exploit and amplify the existing characteristics of that disequilibrium, such as gender. This become the currency of power.

Where men dominate in positions of authority, and women are subordinates seeking access, sex (either in terms of coercive abuse or the extraction of rent) is a means of power. Banter, flirtation and the like are smaller denominations of that currency. We hear less of women abusing men simply because there are fewer women in a position to do so, but it does happen. To that extent, sex is incidental. It is the means of power, not the end.

The change in attitudes towards such abuse, which has been underway for many years now (as the Savile case shows), is actually good news for women, not because it reflects an independent change in moral behaviour, but because it indicates a shift in the balance of gender power that is then reflected through evolving attitudes. This is why women-only shortlists are a more effective way of reducing sexual harrassment than inquiries and slapped wrists.

We'll know that equality has been achieved when a man's claim of sexual harrassment against a more powerful woman isn't treated as a joke.

pablopatito

"the sort of tiresome groper which any woman with a backbone has long learnt to cope with."

Really? How depressing.

dirigible

"the sort of tiresome groper which any woman with a backbone has long learnt to cope with"

Err no.

Really, no.

Luis Enrique

I'm sure it's unintended, but I think unfortunate phrasing gives impression you think women who find being groped extremely distressing (who don't "cope" with it, shrug it off) lack backbone.

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