Tag Archives: sexual harassment

Pope Anticipated the Ansari Affair

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2018

Celebrity culture contributed to the Aziz Ansari scandal and the commotion it has caused. Alexander Pope sets forth the dynamics in “Rape of the Lock.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Pope, Aziz Ansari, Celebrity culture, Rape of the Lock | Comments closed

Austen: Standing Up to Harassers

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2018

Jane Austen has powerful lessons for those battling systemic sexism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, MeToo, Pride and Prejudice | Comments closed

#MeToo: A New Day for Cassandra

By Robin Bates | Published: December 27, 2017

The prophetess Cassandra wasn’t listened to, but the #MeToo movement is changing that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aeschylus, Agamemnon, MeToo, patriarchy, sexual assault | Comments closed

Note to Men: Face Your Inner Violence

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2017

To grapple with the fact of male sexual assault, it helps to have powerful literary explorations. Murakami provides one in “Kafka on the Shore.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged bell hooks, Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, male violence, Roy Moore, Will to Change | Comments closed

Chaucer’s Solution for Sexual Assault

By Robin Bates | Published: November 21, 2017

What are we to do about all of our sexual assaulters, given that they probably number in the thousands? Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has an answer.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Franken, Bill Clinton, Charlie Rose, Donald Trump, Geoffrey Chaucer, Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Roy Moore, sexual assault, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale | Comments closed

Teaching Euripides in the Age of Title IX

By Robin Bates | Published: February 14, 2017

Recently a student reported me for using sexist language in the classroom. (This while teaching a Kingsolver novel and Euripides’s “The Bacchae.”) The language did not reflect my own views, but the complaint made me realize that I need to be more careful with this generation of students.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Pope, Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, Donald Trump, Euripides, Flight Behavior, Maxine Hong Kingston, Rape of the Lock, Sexism, Title IX, Woman Warrior | Comments closed

Mood Swings: Inside Out, Rape of the Lock

By Robin Bates | Published: July 6, 2015

“Inside Out” has a lot in common with Pope’s “Rape of the Lock.” Both show us the interior drama of their heroines. In both works, the heroines lose touch with their upbeat helpers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged adolescent mind, Alexander Pope, brain science, Inside Out, neuropsychology, Rape of the Lock | Comments closed

Sexual Misconduct in the Classics

By Robin Bates | Published: November 3, 2014

A sexual misconduct course required of all employees got me thinking of problematic situations in the books that I teach.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "The Lover: A Ballad", "Written in a Lady's Prayer Book", Aphra Behn, Bacchae, Charlotte Bronte, Euripides, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, John Wilmot, Lucille Clifton, Rape, Rover, Sense and Sensibility, sexual assault, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tom Jones | Comments closed

Gillibrand & Montagu vs. Senate Sexism

By Robin Bates | Published: September 22, 2014

How should Kirsten Gillibrand have responded to sexual harassment by fellow senators? Lady Mary Wortley Montagu provides a good model.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Hustand", "Lover: A Ballad", Kirsten Gillibrand, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Sexism, U. S. Congress | Comments closed