Disclaimer: I am an academic, not in this field. I have never approached any colleague with any intimate or other inappropriate topics. Here are two points I c

Disclaimer: I am an academic, not in this field. I have never approached any colleague with any intimate or other inappropriate topics. Here are two points I consider interesting: * In academia, the only time when you have no power over anyone else is when you are an undergraduate student. After that, almost everyone can be thought to wield some power over anyone, either directly (professor -> student, full professor -> junior professor, senior/accomplished PhD student -> new PhD student) or indirectly (almost everyone you meet is a potential reviewer of your papers, many professors sit on boards which decide postdoc/faculty positions). I would say that the power is more perceived than real -- having a bad name with one professor outside your university likely does not kill your career -- but I would consider it natural to feel uneasy if such a professor expressed intimate interest in you and you had to turn them down. * I have a feeling that for many people, already a single bit of information -- namely knowledge that an person with some amount of power considers you attractive -- is something that would cause them uneasiness (in academia or otherwise). And this uneasiness would be permanent and is not dependent on how this bit propagates to you; from the most innocent (an invitation for coffee that is turned down, a smile in a professional discussion that never veers off-topic) to the most inappropriate (as described in the original post). If that is true, the only solution I can think of is to make sure no such information is shared among any people in your organization -- I abide by that rule personally, but I can understand people opposing such a dehumanization of the work environment.