and

“Also, many people working in fields like the sciences are hyper-focussed on their work, and are usually completely unaware of the various anti-discrimination laws that apply to their workplace”

I reckon that a motivated and web savvy activist could address both of these issues through clever use of the internet. I would certainly link anyone who put together a “how to put a sexual harassment case together against a university” website, if it was done well and I knew where to find it.

One important point not mentioned yet is that in a collaborative research setting, it is possible for the predator to have technical or scientific expertise which is valuable to victim. This can create an activation barrier, where the problems caused by confrontation convince the victim to just tough it out. Figuring out how to compensate for that sort of unique knowledge loss issue would be nice as well.

I have to disagree that I was being incredibly insulting to Dana. I don’t think it’s insulting to suggest that she, and other women who say things like that, might have some internalized sexism. Women are completely submerged in the patriarchy. NO ONE can escape without being tainted by it. Even the most super-feminist women have to address their internalized sexism at times. And maybe you’re right – maybe Dana doesn’t like to work with lots of women because then she’s confronted by how so many of them have fallen victim to patriarchy’s dictates (“love shopping!” “be dieting!” “obsess about your attractiveness!”), but I think there’s a way to phrase that that doesn’t involve bashing all women in general.

I’d have to say that you are being incredibly insulting to women. What you’re basically saying is women are incapable of getting things done when left on their own with no men to guide them. That’s a tired trope. You’ve changed the root of this incompetence to something feminist-sounding (the patriarchy socializes women to be submissive), but the end result is still the same. Women are too weak and meek to be productive, and both men and strong women find that very distasteful. Personally, I find that women are capable of listening to others’ opinions, coming to a decision, and acting upon it just as easily as men. Some women are better at it than others, just as some men are – because women are human beings – we’re not all the same.

However, a woman currently at the lab could bring a lawsuit against the DoE under Title IX based on my complaint to the DoE, but only if she didn’t value her career (unlike the private sector, academia is a small, small world). She would also have to have a whack of money lying around. The lack of lawsuits may not just be due to discrimination not being actionable; people who like to whine about “frivolous” academic discrimination lawsuits ignore (or are unaware of) the fact that not only does a plaintiff risk her career, but it is also costs between $10k to $25k for the plaintiff to retain a lawyer just to file a lawsuit. Realistically, to bring a lawsuit to trial, you are looking at anywhere from $75k to $150k. Employment lawyers rarely work on contingency because the success rates for such lawsuits are only around 25% (a lot of the low success rate has to do with the incredibly short statute of limitations on Title VII claims…many, if not most, discrimination lawsuits have claims that are not timely because rare is the person who is able to get their shit together enough to find and retain a good lawyer within 180 days after some egregious discrimination/harassment incident). The plaintiff usually has to foot the entire bill during the lawsuit themselves.

Thus, egregious and open discrimination may drive highly qualified women and minorities from their chosen profession, but the likelihood that they have the money to bring suit is low. And for women in academia the likelihood that they will find an attorney even if they have money is low, because most lawfirms simply will not take on lawsuits against state entities like state funded universities (because they have infinitely deep tax-payer-funded litigation pockets that can suck even the most well-heeled plaintiff dry).

Also, many people working in fields like the sciences are hyper-focussed on their work, and are usually completely unaware of the various anti-discrimination laws that apply to their workplace (I know I certainly was before the events that came after the birth of my second child). And there aren’t too many information resources out there to educate scientists in academia about their legal workplace rights. If you google “discrimination law academia sciences” for instance, my blog is ranked in the top 3. Until the NYT article came out, if you googled “Title IX sciences” my blog was in the top 10. When I first started my lawsuit, it took me months of working several hours each evening to dredge up information on the internet about the various laws that pertained to my situation, and it took me weeks to discover that Title IX even existed; five years ago, you really didn’t hear a peep about Title IX (other than Title IX and varsity sports). And most lawyers know bugger all about Title IX as it applies to anything other than varsity sports.

Even though the NYT article was so negative, it likely will have positive impact in making academic scientists much more aware that there is a law out there that protects them.

Maybe that new knowledge will spark a few Title IX lawsuits in the sciences that will raise awareness even more. All it takes is a couple lawsuits to really start fomenting change.

It’s called upspeak (or uptalk). And it’s odd that you deem it to be a “clearly submissive” trait. I don’t find it submissive at all. The “question” tone in upspeak isn’t one of uncertainty. It’s one of assuredness, and not plain-old garden-variety assuredness, either, because it also forces a kind of acquiescence on the part of the LISTENER: You’re being “asked” a question but simultaneously being told what the answer is. The message is clear: Your take on the matter isn’t relevant.

It subverts the role of questioning by keeping the power in the questioner’s hands. (There’s even perhaps a bit of a taunting aspect to it.) In that sense, it’s sassy, brassy and thoroughly confident. Indeed, ask most males to think about it for a minute, and they’re likely to say that it’s something of an intimidating conversational style to come up against.

Of course, no — none of this means upspeak isn’t annoying, simply on an aesthetic level!

To everyone else out there wondering why more sex harrassment cases aren’t brought up, here’s a clue from my personal experience. Male prof acts VERY inappropriately with me (when I was a grad student). I filed complaint with AA/EO office. He got slapped on wrist for the “big misunderstanding.” Guess what, turns out he was just as bad with 3 other women. I convinced these women to file complaints. They did. Guess what, another wrist slap because THOSE episodes happened before mine (one was the SAME DAY as mine). You are never gonna believe this, but it’s true… HE DID IT AGAIN while he was being investigated.

This is terrible but believable. Back when I was a TA, a student of mine complained about being sexually harassed by the prof whose course I was TAing. This guy had a previous history of being creepy including anecdotes of sleeping with undergrads to up their grades. Anyway, the department said she would have to bring up charges formally and face him. She refused to even be in the same room as him (she actually took private lessons all through the course) so they said little could be done. She was a Buddhist and believed if she caused any harm to come to him it will affect her karma. While 2 of the other girls I came to know of through her were willing the HR people said those incidents were too far back in the past(> 1 yr) and could not be considered. Finally, another grad student recounted a incident where he behaved creepily with her at a party. Though, she never complained because she was just brazen enough to put him in his place (he was just a lecturer, not tenured). But she had some influence with profs as she was a stellar student and tried to get them to take the complaint without my student and him having to be face-to-face. Finally, all that happened was that the department said this incident would be p in his file and if another complaint came it could be considered together as a ‘pattern’. He’s still employed there.

To everyone else out there wondering why more sex harrassment cases aren’t brought up, here’s a clue from my personal experience. Male prof acts VERY inappropriately with me (when I was a grad student). I filed complaint with AA/EO office. He got slapped on wrist for the “big misunderstanding.” Guess what, turns out he was just as bad with 3 other women. I convinced these women to file complaints. They did. Guess what, another wrist slap because THOSE episodes happened before mine (one was the SAME DAY as mine). You are never gonna believe this, but it’s true… HE DID IT AGAIN while he was being investigated. Then guess what, after being told by chair (a woman) that I was wrong, several other “distinguished” (used very loosely) male profs that I was blowing this out of proportion and should mind my own business (ie., get my degree done and go the hell away), stop “making trouble”, etc etc….. the faculty apologized to me and the other women for ignoring and dismissing us. We were all treated like crap by the majority of the faculty (mostly male of course) while the investigations were happening. But the similarities in our stories (even down to exact creepy phrases which would make every woman sick) really drove home that 1) we weren’t making this up and 2) he is clearly a predator. End result: the creepy dude resigned (before he was gonna get fired). It only took 5 women filing complaints. Worth it, yes. Would I do it again… don’t know. He still works in an academic environment, just not as tt prof.

I found in academia that, like everywhere, there were bad apples and then there were awesome people. But when the bad apple was an advisor or on the thesis committee, I knew women who just sucked it up, knowing that they would graduate eventually, but not willing to jeopardize those recommendations that they needed to get into a good post-doc position. If there is a bad apple, it seems they have a disproportionate amount of power so that if a woman does complain, their job prospects are injured and their research is not supported.

This is exactly the root of the problem. And it extends into being a postdoc, and trying to get tenure.

The people that benefit most from this system are the ones who share the values…and so it continues.

Having said that–I can say that in the 25 years I’ve been in academia, I’ve seen a lot of progress. No one uses the N word openly anymore, for example–but that doesn’t mean racism has gone away. :(