Sexual harassment should be treated in a more measured way, according to feminist author Helen Garner. Ms Garner said yesterday that sexual urges could never be legislated out of life, but “”some terrible things could be done in the name of trying”. Ms Garner was speaking after the launch of her new book “”First Stone” which describes the treatment of the former Master of Ormond College, Melbourne University, who was acquitted of sexual assault and later accused of sexual harassment by two students in the early 1990s. Ms Garner’s book said that the punishment given to “”Dr Colin Shepherd” (even if he did it) was grossly out of proportion to the offences _ touching a breast while on a dance floor and saying to another student that she was beautiful and that he had often had indecent thoughts about her and asking to kiss her. His career was ruined. Ms Garner’s book has caused ire from younger and university-based feminists. Ms Garner criticised the refusal by younger feminists to acknowledge gradations; it was thought of as “”ratting on feminism”, but she was not up with the latest feminist theories.
She said theoretical, university feminists did not like a practical person like her on their turf. Older feminists supported her. She quoted one as saying: “”Look, if every bastard who’s ever laid a hand on us were dragged into court, the judicial system of the state would be clogged for years.” Ms Garner said yesterday: “”People are anxious about the way sexual harassment is being treated.” It needed to be treated in a more measured way, without aggressive desires for excessive retribution for minor gropes or unpleasant approaches. “”There is a possibility for sex harassment legislation and structures where everyone can be decently treated, and I hope that is not a naive hope,” she said.
“”This area of people’s lives is never going to be legislated away. It’s one of the deepest things in people; how they related to the opposite sex and what their feelings are to the opposite sex, their experience of it and the drive people have and the longings and loneliness. Those things can’t be dealt with by legislation. Outrages can sometimes be dealt with, but the world can’t be made sexless nor the erotic cannot be legislated out of human life and I don’t think it should be. “”I hate the idea that the climate could become so filled with fear and aggression that the little gods’ messenger _ Eros _ gets crushed. That is not a popular view I’m afraid.
“”It is not possible for it to happen but some terrible things can be done in the name of trying. In her books she pointed out some inconsistencies with the retributive view. Women in the feminist movement wanted empowerment and argued that women could be strong individuals. But “”puritan feminists . . . are offended by the suggestion that a woman might learn to handle a trivial sexual approach by herself, without the need to run to Big Daddy and even wreck a man’s life, because it unsettles their unstated but crucial belief: that men’s sexuality is a monstrous, uncontrollable force, while women are trembling creatures innocent of desire, under siege even in a room full of companions”. Ms Garner pointed out that their evidence was that Dr Shepherd was on his knees to one of the women looking up to her and saying how attractive she was. “”Who is in power here?” Ms Garner asked.