Dear Democrats (and everyone else) calling on Sen. Franken to resign:

[Ms. Toad]

31. It is night and day - and there would be even more reason for outcry

over their indiscretions because they were so much more significant. Weighed against the power differential, it would take a more significant act to overcome the power.

Similarly, as to the power relationship, you are underestimating the power of celebrity/political status, and the obviously transient nature of the encounter - and the societal pressure against disclosing sexual harassment. All those mitigate toward tolerating the momentary trespass, extracting onesself, and staying away from such encounters with that person in the future.

Virtually no one chooses to invite the kind of character assassination that has been heaped on Franken's accusers for relatively minor transgressions.

What you are calling basic reasoning is based in the misogynistic expectation that targets of sexual harassment will act in a certain way, and when they don't - or not enough of them do - you "reason" that the harassment must not have occurred.