Those who made the mistake of choosing as a reference a well-known sociologist whose alleged horrific sexual harassment has been made public are demonstrating their values by publicly acknowledging their mistake and committing themselves to review the criteria by which they choose their referents. However, many add to their initial mistake another error that harms even more the feminists who fight against sexual harassment in the academy.
In order not to recognize their mistake, in order not to change their criteria of choice, they claim that all sociologists or all academics are harassers, that it is not possible to trust any of them. Thus they demonstrate their submission to the one they have wrongly chosen, “if even that one has done it, then they all do it. All of us who fight against harassment in academia know very well that there are always academics in favor of the victims and also academics in favor of the harassers. To lie about this issue is to take away the few real supports we have in practice, it is to isolate us, it is to act in favor of the harassers. As a feminist, I have excellent female and male sociologists as references, one of them who first in the academy made public his support for the victims. I will explain three of the criteria that in my opinion are essential in order not to make mistakes.
The first is a clear, active and public stance in favor of the victims so that they are not isolated and can become survivors. The well-known sociologist alleged to be a harasser did not have that attitude and those who are related to him are now keeping quiet. Not all are the same; the sociologist Ramón Flecha has suffered terrible isolating gender violence because he has always been the one who has supported the victims the most.
The second is the existence or not of verifiable evidence that his publications are transforming reality. The alleged harasser never transformed a single school or environment, the only impact of his writings on transforming everything was the increase of his fame and money. There is plenty of verifiable evidence that the publications of excellent sociologists are transforming the realities of many environments in different parts of the world.
The third is whether or not the publications generate social impact in transforming and improving women’s lives. The writings and conferences of the alleged harasser are pure blah, blah, blah that excites his hooligans but that anyone who reads them knows are of impressive theoretical mediocrity. The book The Dialogic Society is of a theoretical rigor that surpasses in everything all the “theories” of the referents that some mistakenly choose.
Doctora por Harvard. Vicepresidenta de la International Sociological Association.