This term was apparently designed to shield women in higher education from criticism.
From Reality’s Last Stand:
“Scholarly Harassment” and the Sisterhood of AcademiaIn 2023, June Gruber and four other female academics in the United States introduced a new concept into the academic lexicon: scholarly harassment. They defined it as “repeated mistreatment relating to one’s scholarly work, conduct or capabilities that is threatening, humiliating or intimidating,” and suggested that it applies almost exclusively to women (“female-identifying scholars”).To my knowledge, this concept—despite its potential to reshape academic life— has attracted little critical commentary. Thus, to address this void in academic discourse, I outline several problems with the concept of scholarly harassment, including the predictable damage it would inflict on university scholarship if institutionalized.What Constitutes “Scholarly Harassment”?The most immediate problem with Gruber and colleagues’ scholarly harassment concept—beyond its built-in sex bias—is that it rests almost entirely on subjective emotional states: humiliation, intimidation, and threat. This renders it unworkable as a policy framework. The fact that a female academic feels humiliated by criticism of her work tells us nothing about whether the criticism is fair, accurate, or necessary.Different scholars inevitably respond differently to critique. One woman may interpret a criticism as harassment; another may regard the same comment as standard scholarly disagreement. A concept so dependent on individual emotional reactions has no objective footing on which policy can stand.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY