If the past is another country, and there is nothing so poignant as the innocence of recent history, then there is a third category of engagement with the era directly preceding our own, encapsulated by the line “that didn’t age well”.
I found myself thinking about this in relation to news of the seven male students accused of gang-raping a 20-year-old woman two years ago in their fraternity house at Cornell University, and now facing a civil suit brought by their alleged victim. Apparent failures by Cornell and the local district attorney to act appropriately at the time have triggered another round of commentary about the “death of #MeToo”, not least with the looming anniversary on 15 October, the date in 2017 when the hashtag first went viral. But the period I find myself thinking about predates even that, when it seemed as if these questions of consent had been largely resolved.
