It’s time for the #MeToo movement to splinter into two distinct conversations, one on sexual misconduct and one on what actually constitutes sexual misconduct. Both conversations are legitimate and helpful, but keeping them separate is important to combatting the broader problem. The impulse to place allegations like those made against actor Aziz Ansari — described as “sexual assault” by his accuser — into the first category rather than the second illustrates this.
Ansari stands accused by one woman of ignoring “clear nonverbal cues” during a September date, pressuring her, once she was undressed in his apartment, to engage in sexual conduct with him, then breaking it off when she said “no.” Many have argued that the behavior described was not assault, nor even it newsworthy.
