The Cut - Sarah Schulman's Good Conflict

Sarah Schulman is a playwright, an author, and a queer activist. She is also a professor of creative writing, and once, a number of years ago, she learned that a male graduate student maintained a blog where he wrote about his crush on her. He wrote that he was in love with her; he wrote that he wanted to fuck her; he wrote about her appearance in a way that made her feel bad. She told her colleagues what was happening, and their response was unanimous: He was “stalking” her. They advised Schulman to report him to a supervisor.

She considered this. She was uncomfortable with what was happening, and she wanted it to stop. But she was also uncomfortable with her colleagues’ advice. “I realized that the more I saw myself as being victimized by this person, the more support I had from my colleagues,” Schulman told me. “They would wrap me in the comfort of their protection. And I found this very disturbing. Because no one said to me, ‘Why don’t you ask him what he thinks is going on?’”

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There’s a lot going on in the sky this week: a full moon in Aquarius, followed by Mercury and Venus both changing signs. Read your horoscope here to get the full picture. The science editor at the Times seems to be having fun with headlines, but “There are two ways out of a frog” reads like a grim metaphor for 2020. Trump has stacked his fetal cell research panel with anti-abortion scientists, putting vital medical research at risk. Meet 96-year-old Giuseppe Paterno, Italy’s oldest university graduate. We already knew this house was a nightmare, this just serves as further confirmation. Rhode Island accidentally mailed out tax refund checks signed by Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney, so know that someone else is having a worse Monday than you.

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