Missing stair

Missing stair is a metaphor for a person within a social group who many people know is untrustworthy or otherwise has to be’managed’ The reference is to a dangerous structural fault such as a missing stair in a home, which residents have become used to and accepting of. The phrase was coined by blogger Cliff Pervocracy in a 2012 post on a blog about BDSM and kink.

About Missing stair in brief

Summary Missing stairMissing stair is a metaphor for a person within a social group who many people know is untrustworthy or otherwise has to be’managed’ The reference is to a dangerous structural fault such as a missing stair in a home, which residents have become used to and accepting of, and which is not fixed or signposted. The phrase was coined by blogger Cliff Pervocracy in a 2012 post on a blog about BDSM and kink. It has most often been used in the context of sexual misconduct, but it may describe a variety of uncomfortable social circumstances. The analogy of the missing stair has been described as powerful because it makes it clear that the problem is the predator and the solution is stopping the predatory behaviour.

In 2014 the anti-rape blog Yes Means Yes compared disgraced former broadcaster and pop musician Jian Ghomeshi to a missing stairs. In 2015, the concept was invoked by The Guardian in its coverage of American astronomer Geoffrey Marcy’s resignation from his professorship at UC Berkeley. In a post on Ask. Manager, which discusses employment issues, a reader wrote about how to handle a colleague who repeatedly asked repeatedly to handle their skirts. The concept has also been discussed in reference to religion in the workplace.