When the Woody Allen/Dylan Farrow incident was re-hashed earlier this year, it was ugly, and several people who know I’m a Woody Allen fan asked whether I believed her or him. I told them that I couldn’t take a side because I don’t actually know what happened. Sure, I know her allegation and I know his denial, but I don’t have any data to base a conclusion on.
That’s why I was fascinated by this talk by social psychologist Carol Tavris at The Amazing Meeting this summer, in which she explained how difficult it is to dissect He Said/She Said questions in sexual communications. As the father of a college-age daughter, I was particularly interested in Tavris’ take on states (like California) passing laws regarding explicit consent between two students engaging in sex.