Jacobin readers may be interested in the history of McClintock’s piece, a version of which was killed by the Los Angeles Review of Books because after commissioning it, they decided that it was too ad hominem to run, and couldn’t be saved by even an extensive edit. I know this because they initially asked me to respond, then changed their minds.

I declined to respond, then and now. I’m not going to re-argue the points I’ve already made in the book. Yes, sexual assault is a reality, off campus and on. That’s known. This book is about the less discussed sides of the story. I will just add that every time I speak on a campus about the book, someone takes me aside or emails soon after to tell me about some horrendous accusatory process they’ve been through, and not because they’ve sexually assaulted anyone. I’ve lost track of all the cases I’ve learned about, but what I can say is that the academic precariat is especially at risk, queer professors are especially at risk, and as the last installment of Emily Yoffe’s recent Atlantic series on Title IX makes clear, male students of color are especially at risk. Despite detailed public critiques of campus investigative processes, including the one signed by twenty-eight Harvard Law School professors in the wake of the Obama Title IX guidelines, the full extent of the carceral turn on campus isn’t known because it’s happening behind closed doors. That’s the situation Unwanted Advances breaks news about.