In every discipline that confers prestige — science, cinema, literature, public life — there is a familiar indulgence reserved for a certain kind of man. He is described as difficult, temperamental, uncompromising. His behaviour is explained away as the price of brilliance. His achievements speak louder than his conduct.

For decades, institutions have participated willingly in this bargain. Universities looked away. Committees rationalised. Colleagues advised silence. Women learned early on that naming misconduct often carried a higher cost than enduring it.

This separation between achievement and character was not an accident of another era. It was a system — one that quietly decided whose discomfort was expendable in the pursuit of greatness. For much of modern history, we were taught to hold two ideas apart: brilliance and character. A man’s genius — his discoveries, prizes — could be admired independently of how he treated women, colleagues or students. Excellence, we were told, was a shield. This separation was not merely cultural; it was institutional.

Across laboratories, universities, film sets, newsrooms........

© Indian Express