There’s little doubt that sexism is pervasive in most spheres of life. But I’d like to think, in modern western societies, that we’re (at least gesturing at) moving towards knocking these biases down. That belief took a shot earlier this week when I read this story. Terence Kealey, vice chancellor at Buckingham University in the UK, said that when female students ask male professors for help they should “Enjoy her! She’s a perk.” He continues: “She doesn’t yet know that you are only Casaubon to her Dorothea, Howard Kirk to her Felicity Phee, and she will flaunt you her curves. Which you should admire daily to spice up your sex, nightly, with the wife.” People were in an uproar when Larry Summers, former Harvard President, made comments to the effect that women didn’t have the intrinsic ability to work at the highest levels of science. His comments were surely wrongheaded. But Kealey’s are not only sexist, but in an indirect way, condones predatory behavior in male professors towards their female students.
Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. - George Bernard Shaw
