UVA and the alleged frat rape - Rolling Stone backpedals

Here's where I got the numbers I cited: Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization — National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011. It measures prevalence of "sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence." And, again, there's the drug and alcohol factors, which I'm fine with but others aren't.

Still:

Almost 80 percent of victims have reported being sexually assaulted before age 25. Forty percent before age 18. Another source in the survey (An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie) found that assault in childhood and adolescence increases women's risk of revictimization during college age.

So, while sexual assault on college campuses may not be as big a problem as sexual assault in general, or of children, it's a little more complicated than just saying the stats are "bullshit." And, it's certainly a much bigger problem than a handful of guys being falsely accused and subsequently being cleared of wrongdoing, or the absurd assumption that most rape accusers "just regret a drunken one-night stand."

 

"falsely accused and subsequently being cleared of wrongdoing" is a remarkably cavalier way to look at a life-altering event. These guys are being forced out of the colleges they attend and in many cases cannot find another college that will take them.

No biggie though, I guess.

 

By the way, "attempted forced kissing" is not sexual assault? It is a physical extension of sexual harrassment. It shouldn't carry the penalty of forcible rape, mind you, but it is most definitely sexual assault.

 

You're right. The few dozen times, at most, that this has ever happened is the much bigger issue here.

 

When the questionnaires that they give out equate having a one-night stand that you regretted as "sexual assault" then the stats are bullshit.

My paper ran one of the questionnaires back in the late 1990s. I wish I had a copy of it and to be fair, it may have changed a lot since then, but I tend to doubt it since it gave those groups the numbers they needed to further their cause.

 

Someone leans in, someone turns their head...

 

The complete miscarriage of "justice" is the issue here. That should scare the hell out of you that that's going on.

That and the absurdity of the 1-in-5 carrying weight are ruining the entire discussion. Campuses should be talking about what it is, but they are fixated on what it isn't close to being.

 

The real miscarriage of justice is the thousands of women who are slut-shamed into not reporting.

We're just getting back on the hamster wheel at this point.

 

I agree that it's not a wide scale problem, thought I do believe the victims of it deserve more than sympathy -- and justice -- than you are willing to acknowledge.

I'm just not sure why you think you are the arbiter of what's a BIG problem.

You've determined that rape on campus IS a big problem, though it may be more widespread in other settings.

So, OK, this issue is important to you, and that's fine. Certainly it's an issue that deserves to be looked at, and it deserves advocates.

But, I'm not sure how you can defend defining this as a big issue, and dismiss all other related issues as unimportant.

I've said previously, that if you want to raise false accusations as a response to every discussion related to the issue, it's going to turn people off. And, it shouldn't be your only talking point.

But, it IS worthy of discussion at some point/on some level.

 

These aren't scientific studies. They are the results of self reported surveys, and as RecoveringJournalist points out, it could turn any guy who leaned in for a kiss, but got the cheek, into a sexual harassment statistic.

And, if we're going to treat this as a serious issue, then we probably shouldn't chuckle at and dismiss the behavior of Dick Vitale and Joe Biden as harmless.

 

I don't know if I've posted this, but this essay is quite unnerving ...

Trading the Megaphone for the Gavel in Title IX Enforcement - Trading the Megaphone for the Gavel in Title IX Enforcement

 

YES!

Yes, this is a big issue. And schools and other institutions should work with women to give them the tools they need to feel safe coming forward with credible accusations of sexual assault.

We need better training for police and other advocates as well.

This is something that nearly everyone can/should be able to agree on. And it something that can be worked on.

But, using misleading statistics to buttress this arguments, dismissing false accusations, and defending the "larger issues raised" by the Rolling Stone article don't seem to me to be effective measures of working towards this goal. (Not saying you personally are guilty of all of these.)

This attitude is going to turn off people who could be your allies -- people who would work with you on an issue like this