Spring 1999
Volume 25, Number 3

their very inclusion within harassment policies indicates that consensual relations are themselves considered a type of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment has always been defined as unwanted sexual attention. But with this expansion into the realm of consensual relations, the concept can now encompass sexual attention that is reciprocated and very much welcome. This reconfigures the notion of harassment, suggesting that what is undesirable finally is not unwelcome attention but sexuality per se. Rather than some sexuality being harassing because of its unwanted nature, the inference is that sexuality is in and of itself harassment.1

I would still insist on the danger of this inclusion, a danger we all ought to be able to agree upon, however we feel about teacher-student sex. I hope that even those who are completely opposed to any sex between teachers and students will accept the idea that consensual sex must not be treated as harassment. If we want people to take sexual harassment seriously, it is imperative to distinguish it from any form of consenting relations, even--or especially--those some people might find objectionable.

Campuses continue to treat consensual relations within their harassment policies, which suggests I must continue to make my case. But since I've already argued this in the book, I would like here to explore another aspect of consensual relations policies, one that seems more controversial (given the response to my book, I should perhaps say even more controversial) and that I'm still trying to work out.

Every single reporter who interviewed me about the book responded to my careful explanation of the danger of treating consensual relations as harassment by glibly agreeing and then quickly moving on to ask, "But what about treating consensual relations as a conflict of interest?" And in every single interview, I felt I did not answer that question well. I'm hoping finally to give it the thoughtful response it deserves.

1. Jane Gallop, Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment (Durham, N.C., 1997), p. 32.

Jane Gallop is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Her most recent book is Feminist Accused of Sexual Harassment (1997). She is currently working on a project of family photography to be entitled "Living with His Camera."