36. #HimToo? - Avital Ronell and Nimrod Reitman

This week, Uri tells Rivky about his new favorite movie: 93Queen. Then they dive into the insane story of Professor Avital Ronell and the sexual harassment investigation brought against her by her former graduate student, Nimrod Reitman. The story is made even more upsetting by a letter signed by dozens of leading intellectuals and academics, supporting Dr. Ronell. Rivky and Uri ask, what should we focus on??? Are their identities - queer, Israeli, academic - important? What does this “reverse” #MeToo moment teach us about power? How much does identity politics play a role? Read all about it here: 1. NY Times broke the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/nyregion/sexual-harassment-nyu-female-professor.html 2. Professor Zizek explains why he signed the letter: https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/why-did-i-sign-the-letter-in-support-of-avital-ronell/ 3. Jezebel: https://jezebel.com/what-are-we-to-make-of-the-case-of-scholar-avital-ronel-1828366966 4. Splinter News on sexual harassment in the academy: https://splinternews.com/in-academia-professors-coming-onto-you-is-on-the-sylla-1826669829 5. Salon fills out the profile, and delves into Ronell’s background (and it gets very weird): https://www.salon.com/2018/08/18/when-a-woman-is-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-the-strange-case-of-avital-ronell/ 6. Judith Butler’s apology: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/judith-butler-explains-letter-in-support-of-avital-ronell/ 7. Judith Butler on Hamas/Hezbollah: https://radicalarchives.org/2010/03/28/jbutler-on-hamas-hezbollah-israel-lobby/, https://thecharnelhouse.org/judith-butlers-infamous-2006-remarks-considering-hamas-and-hezbollah-as-progressive-forces-of-a-global-left/ https://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/judith-butler-responds-to-attack-i-affirm-a-judaism-that-is-not-associated-with-state-violence/