Perspectives
Larry Lessig is much in the news because of this article, very different from his usual cyberspace law beat. He discusses the piece at his blog. One of the things he asks is this: "... [F]irst a plea: that we drop the H-word, and B-word from commentary about this."
I was really confused about that at first. For me the verboten "B-word" is "bitch," a word I used to disparage other women long after I should have known better, and one that regrettably still slips out occasionally in unchecked flashes of anger. But "H-word"? Then it dawned on me that he probably means "homosexual" and "bisexual." After showing the incredible level of bravery and generousity of spirit he has demonstrated in this matter, Larry is certainly entitled to place limits on what he wants discussed at his blog, heck I wouldn't blink if he requested that comments be typed in gothic font or Morse Code, but I hope that sexual orientation becomes part of the larger conversation eventually.
One of the passages of the article that most interested me was this one:
...Then, at Yale Law School, Lessig took a course taught by arch-feminist Catharine MacKinnon and began to ponder his relationship with Hanson in a different, more sophisticated light. “There was this moment when I realized that I had been, in the traditional way, a woman in all relevant respects—totally passive, an object of sexual aggression,” he says. “I’d adopted this supportive, protective role with respect to him.” Among his many other afflictions, Hanson was an alcoholic. “There was this one time I literally saved his life,” Lessig recalls. “I came into his bedroom and he was passed out, vomiting, and I had to flip him over to stop him from suffocating. And this, I felt, was my role. I was his wife.”
I wish more had been written about what he learned from MacKinnon, and whether he has thought much about the close nexus between homophobia and misogyny. Also wish I understood what constitutes "arch-feminism" but that is a topic for another day.
Would the rampant pedophilia at the Boychoir School have been disclosed faster and more broadly if the affected students weren't petrified of being labelled homosexuals? This is far from my area of professional expertise, but I can't help believing so.
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