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Behind the MOOC Harassment Charges That Stunned MIT
An anonymous reader writes: The complainant in a sexual harassment case has come forward and told her story about what happened when she was a student in a MOOC led by a rockstar professor. "It would take almost a year before Harbi, with the help of MIT’s investigators, said she came to understand that Lewin’s interest in her was not motivated by empathy, and that their first conversations included inappropriate language. Shortly after contacting her, Harbi said, Lewin quickly moved their friendship into uncomfortable territory, and she was pushed to participate in online sexual role-playing and send naked pictures and videos of herself."
Woo hoo!
Another ahrassment thread. I'm here with a big bag of popcorn and ready to post.
Wiggle out of this one, harassment denialists!
SJW n. One who posts facts.
But how exactly did he force them to do what they did *Over the internet*
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Tell me more about how women are being oppressed by men and how I, as a man, should be ashamed of myself.
She thought she was sending naked pictures and could maybe win some extra points when grade time came around but it turned out she was just sending naked pictures with no long game payout and that's harassment.
WTF! How a 32 years old private English tutor can naively believe sending naked pictures was not involving her into sexual activities? I would consider this as consent, dot period. Perhaps Lewin was infringing the MIT policies, however I would not qualify this as harassment since she, as an adult, decided to go ahead with this from the beginning.
Achille Talon
Hop!
She thought she was sending naked pictures and could maybe win some extra points when grade time came around but it turned out she was just sending naked pictures with no long game payout and that's harassment.
No, wrong wrong wrong wrong. Goddamnit how many illiterate people manage to get this far on Slashdot?! From THE FUCKING ARTICLE:
What may be most difficult to understand, Harbi said, is why anyone would respond to Lewin’s requests. Harbi, who is originally from Algiers, Algeria, is open about having been sexually assaulted in the past, and said she struggles with abandonment issues. The more she tried to distance herself from Lewin, she said, the more he attempted to contact her through email and social media. Ultimately, Harbi said, she felt forced to “obey.”
“We all felt trapped,” Harbi said.
Dziech said Harbi’s history as a victim of sexual assault was relevant.
“That stays with you all of your life,” Dziech, who this quarter teaches a seminar on child and adolescent abuse, said. “You never get beyond it no matter how much therapy. It’s terrifying, and it raises another problem for all institutions: They can never know the background of the student -- in what way the student is vulnerable.”
Slashdot: The place where the most "interesting" and "insightful" comments are completely made up fantasies about what actually happened.
So what you're saying is women are weaker and more manipulable than men?
What he is saying is that people with psychological issues are more vulnerable to manipulation that those without them.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
So what you're saying is women are weaker and more manipulable than men?
I think what he was saying is that people who have been abused in the past are more likely to permit abuse again.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I read the article. I'm just claiming bullshit on the argument that somehow this physics professor is such a master psychological manipulator that he coerced dozens of women halfway across the world to send him nudes over the internet for no good reason.
If you're *that* emotionally troubled with abandonment issues that you're sending a guy over the internet that has no leverage over you nudes, I dont see how you can deal with offline interactions period.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Whether or not there was a promise of quid quo, to trade dirty pictures with someone who is presently one's student is unacceptable. But you know what? I'm so numb from the constant barrage of social justice stories that I just don't give a shit anymore. Enough already.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
why are you post this question on slashdot? Do you assume women come here to get some sort of advice?
So you didn't watch how the bullies worked all this out on the playground as a kid? Or better yet, when you where an adult, watch your kids playing with a group of kids?
Seemed pretty straight forward to me how the abusers identify likely targets and how the suitable targets would react to situations. Even as adults, the behaviors are similar, even if the fine details of how it's done are a bit more nuanced.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Look ladies, yea I'm a middle aged white male, but why do some of you let these things happen to you? [...] I raised my daughter to not be afraid to say no and mean it.
With an attitude like that, it's clear that if your daughter does have something like this (or worse) happen to her, she's not going to tell you. But I guess ignorance is bliss, huh?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I grant that I wouldn't want endless stories about this sort of thing, but Walter Lewin is a special case. He's possibly the most celebrated (relatively) current physics lecturer there is - if you have any interest at all you should seek out some of the videos of his lectures, they are terrific. And that's reasonably nerdy. It's also MOOC (massive open online course) related, and that's a new thing and internet-centric.
I appreciate this update to the previous story about his removal, the lack of any sort of real explanation left me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth. It still... the new story says that all of the evidence of his transgression came from his accuser, which... well. It would have been nice if they had thrown in a line about confirming the chat logs with Facebook, and an additional something about confirming that it was indeed him who said / sent these things and not just someone who had access to his account (when I worked at a distance learning program, I had access to all of the faculties' account pages - this is what the article says he used as proof of his identity to the student). But I'm able to make the assumption that the people investigating this are not completely incompetent. I had come away from the previous story unclear on just how this harassment had taken place, so the new story gives me a bit of satisfaction in that this was indeed unacceptable behavior.
A 32 year old woman took a year to recognize that the harassment "started day one", and when she was "pushed" by her PHYSICS professor to participate in online sexual roleplay and send naked pictures (which she did?) she didn't comprehend that his interest in her might be more than academic?
At what age is someone expected to be able to deploy the word "no" on their own behalf?
-Styopa
I think that's where you have to draw the line. I mean a college-aged girl has to get over the fact that older men will be attracted to her, and make advances. Just because she's creeped-out by it, doesn't necessarily mean it's inappropriate.
Just a quick note-- she wasn't a "college-aged girl"-- she was 32.
Ultimately gender equality means others have the right to hit on her, and she has the right to tell them to fuck-off.
And if he or she doesn't stop? This really isn't about getting the nerve up to ask for a date. This is an almost classic example of a person in a position of power finding a mark to go after.
But, uh, he wasn't in a position with any power over her. She was a student in a not for credit, no grade course that he taught. He had no power whatsoever.
And it's not as if women don't use their sex-appeal when it suits them.
Well sure. But now you're using the "she asked to be raped" stupidity.
Warning! Warning! Strawman argument! Warning!
She wasn't raped. She was not raped . She--voluntarily-- send him nude pictures.