當(dāng)女性主義者被控性騷擾，“我也是”運(yùn)動走向何方

The case seems like a familiar story turned on its head: Avital Ronell, a world-renowned female professor of German and Comparative Literature at New York University, was found responsible for sexually harassing a male former graduate student, Nimrod Reitman.

本案看起來是一個熟悉的故事，但當(dāng)事人的性別顛過來了：世界知名的紐約大學(xué)日耳曼文學(xué)和比較文學(xué)女教授阿維塔爾·羅內(nèi)爾(Avital Ronell)，被發(fā)現(xiàn)對自己之前的男研究生尼姆羅德·萊特曼(Nimrod Reitman)進(jìn)行性騷擾。

An 11-month Title IX investigation found Ronell, described by a colleague as “one of the very few philosopher-stars of this world,” responsible for sexual harassment, both physical and verbal, to the extent that her behavior was “sufficiently pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of Mr. Reitman’s learning environment.” The university has suspended Ronell for the coming academic year.

經(jīng)過長達(dá)11個月的教育法修正案第九條(Title IX)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，被一位同事稱為“當(dāng)今世上為數(shù)不多的哲學(xué)家明星之一”的羅內(nèi)爾，要對身體和語言上的性騷擾負(fù)責(zé)，她的行為“頻繁到足以改變?nèi)R特曼學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境之條款與條件”。大學(xué)暫停了羅內(nèi)爾在即將到來的新學(xué)年的教職。

In the Title IX final report, excerpts of which were obtained by The New York Times, Reitman said that she had sexually harassed him for three years, and shared dozens of emails in which she referred to him as “my most adored one,” “Sweet cuddly Baby,” “cock-er spaniel,” and “my astounding and beautiful Nimrod.”

根據(jù)《紐約時報(bào)》拿到的第九條調(diào)查最終報(bào)告的摘錄，萊特曼說她對自己進(jìn)行了長達(dá)三年的性騷擾，并且公開了數(shù)十封電子郵件，她在郵件里稱他為“我最寵愛的人”“甜蜜可人的寶貝兒”“獵雞雞犬”和“我驚人的美麗的尼姆羅德”。

Coming in the middle of the #MeToo movement’s reckoning over sexual misconduct, it raised a challenge for feminists — how to respond when one of their own behaved badly. And the response has roiled a corner of academia.

在“#我也是”運(yùn)動對性行為不端的反思中，這起案子給女性主義發(fā)起了一個挑戰(zhàn)——當(dāng)她們自己行為不端時，又該如何回應(yīng)。此案所帶來的反應(yīng)已在學(xué)界掀起了軒然大波。

Soon after the university made its final, confidential determination this spring, a group of scholars from around the world, including prominent feminists, sent a letter to NYU in defense of Ronell. Judith Butler, author of the book “Gender Trouble” and one of the most influential feminist scholars today, was first on the list.

就在該校于今年春天作出最后的保密決定后不久，一群來自世界各地的學(xué)者，包括一些著名的女性主義者，給紐約大學(xué)寫了一封信，為羅內(nèi)爾辯護(hù)。署名排在第一位的，是《性別困惑》(Gender Trouble)一書的作者、當(dāng)今最有影響力的女性主義學(xué)者之一的朱迪斯·巴特勒(Judith Butler)。

“Although we have no access to the confidential dossier, we have all worked for many years in close proximity to Professor Ronell,” the professors wrote in a draft letter posted on a philosophy blog in June. “We have all seen her relationship with students, and some of us know the individual who has waged this malicious campaign against her.”

“雖然我們無法看到這份機(jī)密卷宗，但我們都與羅內(nèi)爾教授有著多年的密切接觸，”這些教授在一份6月發(fā)表在一個哲學(xué)博客上的草擬信函中寫道。“我們都看到了她與學(xué)生們的關(guān)系，而且我們當(dāng)中一些人知道究竟是誰發(fā)起了這場針對她的惡毒攻擊。”

Critics saw the letter, with its focus on the potential damage to Ronell’s reputation and the force of her personality, as echoing past defenses of powerful men.

批評人士認(rèn)為，這封信跟過去那些為權(quán)勢男性的辯護(hù)如出一轍，把重點(diǎn)放在了事件對羅內(nèi)爾的聲譽(yù)和人格力量可能造成的損害上。

“We testify to the grace, the keen wit, and the intellectual commitment of Professor Ronell and ask that she be accorded the dignity rightly deserved by someone of her international standing and reputation,” the professors wrote.

教授們寫道：“我們可以證明羅內(nèi)爾教授的優(yōu)雅、機(jī)敏和智識擔(dān)當(dāng)，我們要求，她理應(yīng)得到與其國際地位和聲譽(yù)相當(dāng)?shù)淖饑?yán)。”

Reitman, who is now 34 and is a visiting fellow at Harvard, says that Ronell kissed and touched him repeatedly, slept in his bed with him, required him to lie in her bed, held his hand, texted, emailed and called him constantly, and refused to work with him if he did not reciprocate. Reitman is gay and is now married to a man; Ronell is a lesbian.

現(xiàn)年34歲的萊特曼目前在哈佛作訪問學(xué)者，他說羅內(nèi)爾一再親吻、觸摸他，與他一起睡在他的床上，要求他躺在她的床上，握著他的手，不停地給他發(fā)短信、郵件、打電話，他若不做出回應(yīng)，她就拒絕合作。萊特曼是同性戀，目前已與一名男子結(jié)婚;羅內(nèi)爾也是一名同性戀。

Ronell, 66, denied any harassment. “Our communications — which Reitman now claims constituted sexual harassment — were between two adults, a gay man and a queer woman, who share an Israeli heritage, as well as a penchant for florid and campy communications arising from our common academic backgrounds and sensibilities,” she wrote in a statement to The New York Times. “These communications were repeatedly invited, responded to and encouraged by him over a period of three years.”

66歲的羅內(nèi)爾對騷擾予以否認(rèn)。“我們之間的通訊交流——萊特曼現(xiàn)在稱之為性騷擾——是兩個成年人，兩個都擁有以色列背景的男同和女同，出于我們共同的學(xué)術(shù)背景和情感而產(chǎn)生的一種對浮夸的、坎普式的溝通方式的喜好，”她在給《紐約時報(bào)》的一份聲明中寫道。“在三年時間里，他一再要求、回應(yīng)和鼓勵這些交流。”

Two years after graduating from NYU with a Ph.D., Reitman filed a Title IX complaint against his former adviser, alleging sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and retaliation. In May, the university found Ronell responsible for sexual harassment and cleared her of the other allegations.

從紐約大學(xué)畢業(yè)并獲得博士學(xué)位兩年后，萊特曼對其前導(dǎo)師發(fā)起了第九條投訴，指控她實(shí)施性騷擾、性侵犯、跟蹤和報(bào)復(fù)。5月，紐約大學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)羅內(nèi)爾對性騷擾負(fù)有責(zé)任，并排除了其他指控。

Reitman’s lawyer, Donald Kravet, said he and his client have drafted a lawsuit against NYU and Ronell and are now considering their options.

萊特曼的律師唐納德·克拉維特(Donald Kravet)表示，他和他的客戶已經(jīng)起草了針對紐約大學(xué)和羅內(nèi)爾的訴訟書，現(xiàn)在正在考慮他們的選擇。

Both Reitman’s and Ronell’s descriptions of their experiences echo other #MeToo stories: In Reitman’s recollection, he was afraid of his professor and the power she wielded over him, and often went along with behavior that left him feeling violated. Ronell said that Reitman desperately sought her attention and guidance in interviews she submitted to the Title IX office at NYU, which The New York Times obtained.

萊特曼和羅內(nèi)爾對自己經(jīng)歷的描述都和其他“#我也是”故事相吻合：在萊特曼的回憶中，他害怕教授以及她可以對他施加的權(quán)力，經(jīng)常要忍受讓他感到受侵犯的行為。羅內(nèi)爾在接受紐約大學(xué)第九條辦公室問訊時稱，萊特曼拼命吸引她的關(guān)注，要求獲得她的指導(dǎo)，《紐約時報(bào)》獲得了這份問訊記錄。

The problems began, according to Reitman, in the spring of 2012, before he officially started school. Ronell invited him to stay with her in Paris for a few days. The day he arrived, she asked him to read poetry to her in her bedroom while she took an afternoon nap, he said.

萊特曼說，自2012年春季他正式入學(xué)之前，問題就已經(jīng)開始出現(xiàn)了。羅內(nèi)爾邀請他和她一起在巴黎待了幾天。他說，在他到達(dá)那天，她讓他去臥室，在她午睡時朗誦詩歌給她聽。

“That was already a red flag to me,” Reitman said. “But I also thought, OK, you’re here. Better not make a scene.”

“這已經(jīng)令我產(chǎn)生警惕，”萊特曼說。“但我也想，好吧，我來都來了。最好不要小題大做。”

Then, he said, she pulled him into her bed.

然后，他說，她把他拉到了床上。

“She put my hands onto her breasts, and was pressing herself — her buttocks — onto my crotch,” he said. “She was kissing me, kissing my hands, kissing my torso.” That evening, a similar scene played out again, he said.

“她把我的手放在她的乳房上，并把她的身體——她的臀部——壓在我的胯部，”他說。“然后她親吻我，吻我的手，吻我的身體。”那天晚上，類似的一幕再次出現(xiàn)，他說。

He confronted her the next morning, he said.

他說，第二天早上他質(zhì)問了她。

“I said, look, what happened yesterday was not OK. You’re my adviser,” he recalled in an interview.

“我說，你看，昨天那種事是不對的。你是我的導(dǎo)師，“他在接受采訪時回憶道。

When he got to New York, the behavior continued, he said, when after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Ronell showed up at his apartment because her power had gone out. He said that, despite his objections, she convinced him that they could both sleep in his bed together. Once there, she groped and kissed him each night for nearly a week, he said.

當(dāng)他到達(dá)紐約時，這種行為仍在繼續(xù)，他說，2012年10月的桑迪颶風(fēng)之后，羅內(nèi)爾出現(xiàn)在他的公寓里，因?yàn)樗彝ｋ娏?。他說，盡管他提出反對，但她說服他，兩人可以睡在一張床上。他說，接下來的一個星期，她每天晚上都在床上撫摸并親吻他。

“Professor Ronell denies all allegations of sexual contact in their entirety,” Mary Dorman, Ronell’s lawyer, wrote in a submission to the Title IX office. Ronell said she only stayed for two nights after the hurricane, at Reitman’s invitation.

“羅內(nèi)爾教授徹底否認(rèn)所有關(guān)于兩人之間性接觸的指控，”羅內(nèi)爾的律師瑪麗·多曼(Mary Dorman)在向第九條辦公室提交的一份意見書中寫道。羅尼爾說，在颶風(fēng)過后，她只是在萊特曼的邀請下，在他家住了兩晚。

The Title IX report concluded that there was not enough evidence to find Ronell responsible for sexual assault, partly because no one else observed the interactions in his apartment or her room in Paris.

第九條辦公室報(bào)告的結(jié)論是，沒有足夠的證據(jù)證明羅內(nèi)爾對性侵犯負(fù)有責(zé)任，部分原因是沒有其他人目睹兩人在萊特曼的公寓或羅內(nèi)爾巴黎房間內(nèi)的互動。

Reitman also said that Ronell retaliated against him for complaining to her about her behavior, in part by sending pro forma recommendations on his behalf, thwarting his job prospects. But the Title IX report found that her recommendation letters “were comparable to those for other former students” and he did secure two postgraduate fellowships.

萊特曼還說，因?yàn)樗г顾男袨?，羅內(nèi)爾對他進(jìn)行了報(bào)復(fù)，其中包括為他寫的例行推薦信，從而阻礙了他的工作前程。但是，第九條報(bào)告發(fā)現(xiàn)她為他寫的推薦信“與她為其他學(xué)生寫的推薦信類似”，而萊特曼也確實(shí)獲得了兩份研究生獎學(xué)金。

Ronell and some who are backing her have attempted to discredit her accuser in familiar ways, asking why he took so long to report, and why he seemed so intimate with Ronell if he was, in fact, miserable. Maybe, Ronell suggested, he was frustrated because he just wasn’t smart enough.

羅內(nèi)爾和一些支持她的人試圖以熟悉的方式來詆毀原告，問他為什么過了這么長的時間才舉報(bào)，還有，如果他真的有那么痛苦，他為什么看上去還同羅內(nèi)爾非常親密。也許，羅內(nèi)爾說，他沮喪的是他不夠聰明。

“His main dilemma was the incoherency in his writing, and lack of a recognizable argument,” Ronell said in a January 2018 interview submitted to the Title IX office.

“他的主要困境是他的寫作缺乏連貫性，缺乏能得到認(rèn)可的的論點(diǎn)，”2018年1月羅內(nèi)爾在接受第九條辦公室問訊時說。

In addition to the suspension, which the university never publicly announced, NYU is investigating further claims of retaliation related to the professors’ letter.

除了始終未公開宣布的停職，紐約大學(xué)還在調(diào)查與這位教授的信件有關(guān)的進(jìn)一步報(bào)復(fù)行為指控。

John Beckman, a spokesman for the university, wrote in a statement to The Times that NYU was “sympathetic” to what Reitman has been through.

該大學(xué)發(fā)言人約翰·貝克曼(John Beckman)在致《紐約時報(bào)》的一份聲明中寫道，紐約大學(xué)對萊特曼所經(jīng)歷的事情表示“同情”。

But, Beckman added, “given the promptness, seriousness and thoroughness with which we responded to his charges, we do not believe that his filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the university would be warranted or just.”

但是，貝克曼還說，“鑒于我們對他的指控作出了迅速、嚴(yán)肅和徹底的回應(yīng)，我們認(rèn)為他提出的針對本校提出的數(shù)百萬美元訴訟是不合理、不公正的。”

Both Ronell and Reitman feel they have been miscast in this #MeToo story.

羅內(nèi)爾和萊特曼都認(rèn)為他們在這個“#我也是”故事中扮演了不適宜的角色。

Reitman said he never intended to become any kind of public figure in a national conversation about gender, and that he started the process before the movement took off. “It didn’t come from #MeToo,” he said.

萊特曼說，他從未打算在這場關(guān)于性別的全國性討論中成為任何形式的公眾人物，而且他在該運(yùn)動開始前就開始了自己的投訴。“這不是受‘#我也是’的啟發(fā)，”他說。

In March 2018, Ronell pointedly complained that Reitman had a penchant for “comparing me to the most egregious examples of predatory behaviors ascribable to Hollywood moguls who habitually go after starlets.”

2018年3月，羅內(nèi)爾尖刻地抱怨說，雷特曼喜歡“將我和那些最嚴(yán)重的掠奪性行為相提并論，那些事都是慣于追逐小明星的好萊塢大亨才干的。”