One could argue that part of that is just "shaming" her for doing something that they would be less likely to fault a man for doing. On the other hand, mixing

One could argue that part of that is just "shaming" her for doing something that they would be less likely to fault a man for doing. On the other hand, mixing business with pleasure like that is a risky move. But so is rejecting advances from a more senior / more established person. If we assume Pao was always Machiavellian, she might even have had the affair because she thought it increased her chances of making partner. When people are sufficiently self-actualized and machiavellian, they often play some fairly complex strategies. This lawsuit, even though she lost, is perhaps the third best option for her, since she's had millions of dollars of free publicity and can surely leverage that to start her own fund, be more prominent on deals, etc. edit: The above is based on the assumption that she lost the case fair and square and that she knew that was a possibility going in, and that she's looking at her best options every day (like rational actors do). It is not intended to be insensitive to the emotional side of it, since surely it was very difficult and upsetting to go through (and to be in the limelight over something that is gossipy and not part of the professional or public identity she likely intended to have).