few contemporary controversies resemble the legendary Gordian Knot so much as the issue of sexual harassment, but beware anyone who claims the ability to cut through it with the sharp swords of law or theory. Alexander the Great died 2,300 years ago -- and besides, sorting this one out is no job for a soldier.

The American military's own inability to cope with the intricate shiftings of modern sexual politics proves that. One day the drill sergeants in Aberdeen, Md., are carrying on as if their trainees are some kind of commissioned personal harem, the next Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson is being sentenced to 25 years of military prison for "raping" several women who admit to having "consented" to sex with him. For everyone who considers that penalty extreme, there's someone else who believes that boot camp is an artificial environment where ordinary notions of autonomy and responsibility don't apply, and therefore the Army is entitled to its own peculiar definition of rape.

Of course, in this case, there's also the matter of race (Simpson is black and some, but not all, of his accusers are white), the Army's recent history of embarrassing sexual harassment scandals, the quarrel over whether women belong in combat units to begin with, the possibility that the women involved might have used their relationships with Simpson to advance their standing in his unit, and so on. Every sexual harassment case seems to resemble a Talmudic text, a puzzle of multiple facets and infinite complexity, something that could be studied for years and still yield new angles, insights and interpretations. Freud observed that every time a couple goes to bed, six people actually participate -- phantoms of the lover's parents play a role in the tryst, as well. Sexual harassment cases multiply this crowd: By the time a charge goes public, the entire citizenry has piled into the room, ready to duke it out in earnest.

Confronted with such a mess, sensible people are likely to tear their hair, toss up their hands and despair of ever finding a way to apply the law fairly. But in case you haven't noticed, sensible people are rarely consulted in these matters. They're so much less entertaining than the ranters and grousers, the feminist ideologues with their hothouse analyses and the coot pundits with their soft spot for the Bad Ol' Days. Universities, in particular, have seen some pitched battles over sexual harassment, and as a result, it's in academia that reasoning feminists are colliding with their more fanatical sisters. Those tortuous collisions are sparking some fascinating new books.