Hypothesis to be tested. All this business about sexual harassment is not a question of the relationship between men and women, but a question of the relationship between social classes. Whether sexual harassment is perceived as a problem in a society is determined by how big the class differences are. If it is “raised as an issue” somewhere, it is a sign that class differences have grown.
It means that class differences have grown to the point where dating between lower-class men and upper-class women is absolutely out of the question. No woman in the world feels humiliated when approached by a good-looking billionaire or a movie star. But many women feel humiliated when they are approached by a man who is much lower on the social ladder. I remember some time ago Dr. Kovářová, herself a charming upper-class woman, mentioning that it is nice when a man turns to a woman and even whistles in praise, and a feminist countered: “So what if they’re masons!” That’s the whole point.
Just as different animal species don’t copulate, people who have too much social difference don’t date.
Just as different animal species don’t copulate, people who have too much social difference don’t date. One of the signs of that difference is the way they make contact.
If I’m right, it’s no coincidence at all that in this time of rapid impoverishment and rapid growth of social differences, a billboard campaign against approaching women on the street is running in the Czech Republic.
