When we talk about women and gossip, we must speak, first, about the bathroom stall.

Brown University, 1990. A list springs up on campus. “Beware of [blank], he doesn’t take no for answer,” the first entry says. It grows from there — reams of names, a record of rape that cannot be said. The janitors wipe and wipe it away — scrub it — paint over it — the admin, in their official stance, paints over it, too — but eventually those women’s lists sand down that door.

There are still such lists today.

This gossip is an act of resistance. It’s often derided or dismissed — called witchhunting, rumormongering, attention-seeking. Yet ...