An easy mistake to make in fairness.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that a Professor of Law at Drexel University in Philadelphia sent her students an e-mail that accidentally included a link to a clip on PornHub.
The clip – surprise, surprise – was extremely graphic in nature and reportedly involved anal beads.
The professor in question, Lisa McElroy, had intended to include a link to a “great article on writing briefs” but seemingly copied and pasted a link to another piece of content that had caught her eye, albeit entirely different in nature.
Unsurprisingly, once word got out about McElroy’s mistake it became the subject of international attention and, three weeks on, she decided to front up and explain her side of the situation.
Someone in McElroy’s situation could be forgiven for wanting to distance themselves from such an embarrassing episode, but to her credit, she has tackled it head on and in an op-ed in the Washington Times, has criticised some of the coverage and hit out at the lack of her right to privacy.
You can read the piece in full here, but we’ve included some of the most interesting excerpts below.
Fair play to Lisa, there aren’t many people who would emerge from a situation in which they accidentally sent porn to a classroom full of students with their heads held high, but she certainly manages it.
“But what’s really fascinating about this story is not that a law professor inadvertently shared a porn link with her students. What’s newsworthy is that, actually, there was nothing newsworthy about it,” she writes.
“What happened was, in the grand scheme, pretty trivial. My students are adults. The link was quickly removed. There was nothing illegal in the video.
“The post occurred in the same two-month period when the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey” grossed almost $570 million worldwide. Yet, because it was porn and I’m a law professor, news organizations spread the story around the world.
“Here’s what I’ve learned: Losing your dignity is not like losing your virginity (and, yes, I understand the loaded nature of those words). You can go back. You can reimagine yourself, and your reputation, and your professional image.
“You can come to realize that there are worse things than humiliation. There is cancer. There is isolation. And there is the willingness — even the desire — to bring others down to lift yourself up.
“See you in class.”
Hat-tip: i100
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