Monster

Since its release in 2018, Netflix's drama You has sparked both intrigue and controversy. Based on the fictional novel of the same name by Caroline Kepnes, the ...

The government regulator has [now proposed](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-64662612) universities should be forced to document or ban staff-student relationships (as [Oxford has just done](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-64891176)). Indeed, part one was released during ongoing [University and College Union industrial action](https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/12803/Joint-union-statement-Acas-higher-education-talks), which was prompted by issues of workload, short-term contracts, zero hour contracts and equality pay gaps. In part one of this season, the student-staff relationship forms little more than a minor plot detail. In You, dark academia takes many forms: Goldberg’s attire, the opulent interior decor on campus and aspirational portrayals of writing. But the dark academia trend has developed and popularised the glamourisation of university experiences further [precarious working conditions](https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/126265_book_item_126265.pdf) that underpin much of academia and which contrast with the wealth on display in the campus buildings. In this series, Goldberg is working as a professor at a London university, cutting a confident, tweed-clad, but ultimately dangerous figure. [the sector](https://wonkhe.com/blogs/permitting-staff-student-relationships-harms-education/) has arguably [long ignored](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/feb/28/uk-universities-too-slow-to-address-staff-student-sexual-relationships) the potential harm to students in such situations. [sexual harassment and violence](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9438/) persists in [the sector](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-15246-8). In You – as in real life – such harm and horrors include the misogyny of academics such as Goldberg, who admonishes men who harm women despite being one himself. [through social media](https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/nuwomen/2021/02/16/dark-academia-gender-intellectualism) such as [TikTok](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/dark-academia-tiktok-aesthetic-cec/index.html) and [“dark academia](https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/iph-2022-2047/html?lang=en)” – a term used to describe the internet trend for idealising the aesthetics of university life.