Really? I'd say an accusation from those groups can ruin a career.

http://mashable.com/2016/01/12/astronomy-professor-sexual-ha...

So maybe one day a single false accusation will be able to ruin a career, but it seems at the moment, multiple factual accusations won't.

Meanwhile, these men do threaten to, and follow through on threats to, ruin the careers of the women unlucky enough to find themselves trapped in professional settings with these sociopaths.

"What should have been the best week of Matt Taylor's (Rosetta project scientist) professional life ended with him weeping on TV as he apologized for his alleged crime."

More at:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-goldberg-rosetta-...

When you're approving of driving innocent people out of work because of their chromosomal makeup, maybe you need to step back and reconsider your principles.

I don't have more time to figure out the guy's name but his HN username is mr-hank: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5398681

Also someone else getting worse makes this okay? Two wrongs make it right?

There's another article from a news source I don't particularly trust saying he was offered a new position in Japan.

Either way, even if he's doing fine now it was months of upheaval and a dedicated witch-hunt over comments that were taken completely out of context.

The accusation could be just as harmful coming from an individual, in most cases. It depends on the type of accusation, though.

I'm still reflecting how I feel about this, though my inclination is to be forgiving to disempowered minorities -- or majorities.

It's not as if the empowered majority (or minorities) haven't, and don't, make use of similar organisations and tactics. There's something about balancing power which matters.

That said, I'm also somewhat leery of, say, exclusively gender-divided organisations. Contra: the National Organization for Women, which admits both women and men.