sex and power

one obvious thing about extreme asymmetries of power - from corporate hierarchies to armed forces to institutional religions to welfare states - is that they are typically infested with sexual predation (of various forms). one has to be a bit suspicious of almost anyone who devotes their lives to ascending these hierarchies on these grounds. that's one reason why i sometimes cringe when i hear such ascenscions described as selfless devotions to public service, especially when people are describing themselves that way. not that that is impossible as a motivation; it's just that you very frequently are confronted with the extreme dark side. i don't think one should endorse various hierarchical structures without also confronting the extremely fraught connections between sex and power.