Modern-day gender issues leave the gods bemused – and anyone trying to apply a little commonsense is subject to short shrift. Mass movements tolerate no criticism, as Catherine Deneuve discovered. She was drowned in criticism for a letter she co-signed hitting out at the puritanism sparked by sexual harassment scandals. It spoke of how the legitimate protest against sexual violence women face had turned into a witch-hunt that, while denouncing the abuse of power, suggests a hatred both of men and sexuality.

“Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or clumsily is not – nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack.” Rape has its own problem: it’s difficult to prove as there are rarely witnesses, except in kinkier cases. It becomes even more difficult when some people make vague allegations of abuse or sign up to MeToo for publicity reasons. The recent Senate hearing on Judge Kavanagh was meant to rule on his ability to make a learned and impartial ruling (on which score he might have failed). Instead the focus shifted to uncorroborated claims of inappropriate behaviour dating back decades.

However, the shrill siren voices protesting in the background were evidence not so much of improper conduct but of mass hysteria. Any denunciation made by the sorority has become absolute truth. It’s surprising they haven’t yet appointed a Papessa. When anyone questions the current cause, the hoards descend as wrathfully as the Furies of yore. These goddesses of vengeance and retribution punished people for crimes against the natural order, particularly homicide, unfilial conduct, offences against the gods and lying – but not rape, a subject on which Greek gods were unenlightened.

Mass hysteria and mass movements have a lot in common. They tend to attract the same type of followers, behave in the same way and use the same tactics. The various causes and motivations for mass movements are often interchangeable. Pre-War communists and fascists were bitter enemies but in fact competed for the same type of angry people as Le Pen and Melenchon today.

When something goes wrong, the blame game swings into action. Only a few hundred years ago, hundreds of people were drowned, burnt or hanged for witchcraft. An accusation could be sufficient and it was an easy way to dispose of an enemy or rival. Nowadays, anyone alleging abuse has to be believed and, even more bizarrely, if an action is abuse in the mind of the recipient, that in itself is sufficient. In Duckland, a man can declare himself a woman, presumably wearing the Emperor’s new clothes. His assertion has to be respected so he can now use women’s restrooms, once safe spaces.

The term “abuse” is being bandied around like a football and lacks definition. Medically, it’s any action that intentionally harms or injures another person and implies physical or mental violence. What that means in practice is less clear as what upsets one person is merely shrugged off by another. A hand on a shoulder can be seen as a friendly act or an attack. While kidnapping your daughter from her partner’s home seems medieval, some will justify it on the grounds of family values. It’s all very confusing.

When a statue of Aphrodite led to overexcitement, she simply looked on in stony silence, just as many incidents are best ignored or filed as an unpleasant experience. Instead, American Democrats have chosen to exploit the possibility of a decades-old scandal, which could backfire – or at least give the Donald a lesser mid-term problem than he probably deserves.