Why did no one warn me about conference sexual predators?

Senior or famed academics are often tempted to consider sexual advances to female colleagues as fair game ...part of the perks to the platform. Thst it continues to this day is part indication of how often these advances succeed or else it should have become so risky or unpopular it is extinct. Some women encourage it by omission or commission , others frown it down . The predator would not know unless he attempts. There in lies the core to the (tentative)trade Basil jide fadipe.

20 plus years of listening to returning academics describing theirs or other academics sexual conquests at conferences, both male and female, convinced me that tele-conferencing would be the best way forward for many and when the pandemic arrived and tele working became the norm I hoped Universities would see the cost savings as a good reason not to sponsor travel to them. No doubt consenting adults wishing to share their genetic information will still find a way, but academic gatherings need to be safe for those that do not wish to do so.

I have to say, that this article describes a horrific experience and points to a culture of tolerance and complicity. The comments following it are intended to validate the author but both actually use the opportunity to puff up their own academic egos with clever rhetorical devices to let us know they are "intelligent". My dad was an academic and a sexual predator, just like this article describes. He also sexually abused me. He used "I'm cleverer than you and I can build an intellectual fortress around myself to justify what I do" as a form of domination. Perhaps the dehumanising language used in academia is part of the culture of cold predation. For what it's worth, Kirsten, what happened to you is outrageous and disgusting. No one should have to navigate that crap. Cathy English