"I am deeply sorry for using my position as an investor to take advantage of the female founders who came to me and my firm seeking only our help and support. What I did was cruel and wrong. The harm I've done to myself, my firm, my reputation, and my family does not compare to the harm I did these women. As a man, I will never truly understand what it feels like to be the victim of these transgressions. I can only say how sorry I am, commit to getting the help I need to change, and hope that some day I may be able to make amends."
It seems to me that being sexual harassed by a person in a position of authority over you is unlikely to be that different based on sex but could differ a lot based on some of the characteristics that are often skewed to one sex or the other.
So men in general might feel greater humiliation, perhaps; women might feel more vulnerable: both because of the physical strength of men vs. women in general.
I am of the opinion that you can never "truly understand" another person's suffering unless you share their subjective experience. Women's suffering, in general and in this regard, is compounded by experiences and insidious forces far broader than the acts at issue in any given incident. It is both incorrect and intellectually disingenous to ignore this context, and to approach the matter as a simple and narrow question of whether men can be sexually harassed, and if so, how it makes them feel.
Consider Kafka. Any one incident in one of his stories could be fairly viewed as merely a confusing annoyance, but that would miss the point.
But even the structural nature of violence against women is insufficient context alone. The feelings women experience when they are victimized in this way are products of history. And I submit that you cannot share in that experience without that history, which is to say without having been born a woman.
I can no sooner "truly understand" how women experience these things than I can truly understand how it feels to be a black man called "boy." I understand it intellectually, and I empathize as much as I can, but I'll never "get it" as someone who isn't a member of the out-group.
This isn't a contest of suffering. I can suffer just as much as a woman, if not more, but not in the same way. It is the character of the suffering that makes us different.
I don't think anyone contends that you can completely understand anothers experience. Nor that any two instances of suffering (nor any experience) are identical.
What you need to demonstrate is that women are a special class who have entirely different experiences, to any member of other classes, when being sexually harassed.
This stands in stark contrast to some feminist rhetoric as it relies on men and women being fundamentally and innately unequal.
I don't think women are shrinking little flowers, as a class, that experience harassment in a way that no members of the out-class do. This, appears to be the supposition of your post.
How do you suppose you know enough of the experience of members of your own class (eg male) to say they are all markedly different to those of another class (female).
>The feelings women experience when they are victimized in this way are products of history. //
In the general case that sounds like bullshit. Convince me otherwise?
Respectfully, I have neither the time nor interest to educate about the world history of women's oppression and its psychological manifestations. I'm sure you can find plenty of reading material elsewhere.
Also, I'm a Beauvoir feminist, so I'm sure we'd have our differences about gender equality.
If there were a job like, "Professional apology writer," you would be great at it. On the other hand, I doubt you would work for anyone who needed such services, and good on you for that.
