Go Back to College to Get More Knowledge

While the title of this blog may be paraphrased from the childish chant "Girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to Jupiter...", I believe it emphasizes the point that many of those who deny the problem of rape on college campuses come from a place of childlike ignorance, despite their age.

If you have not been on a college campus as a student in decades, I do not think you are in a position to criticize or question those who have the courage to speak up about what has happened to them or their friends. You cannot tell someone who had sex without wanting to, without consenting to, maybe even without remembering it until they woke up the next day, that what happened to them was not really rape or is not really a problem.

And yet, Camille Paglia, the public intellectual I profiled, now somewhat regrettably, in my last post does exactly that:

Despite hysterical propaganda about our “rape culture,” the majority of campus incidents being carelessly described as sexual assault are not felonious rape (involving force or drugs) but oafish hookup melodramas, arising from mixed signals and imprudence on both sides.

There is a fear I have been hearing about a lot more lately that women who are claiming they were raped are making up these stories, presumably to slander the alleged assaulter's reputation and destroy his future, when in fact he is completely blameless. This unfounded argument is being used by the ignorant masses to undermine the claims of many rape victims, like in this Op-Ed by law professor, Glenn Harlan Reynolds.

...At least until people catch on. As George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf notes, "After a while, the boy who cried wolf wasn't believed, and the women who cry rape may likewise not be believed, especially with the accusations of rape at Duke University and the University of Virginia fresh in people's minds."

"She could be lying." Well, I suppose she could be. But I can tell you with near-certainty that the instances where a victim's claims have no factual basis are infinitely fewer than the amount of times I have heard people make this claim.

It is not easy to admit to someone else, let alone oneself, that what happened was raped. It comes with a lot of fear, shame, and guilt, despite all kinds of training reminding victims that it is never their fault.

And on a college campus, there are also social scenarios to consider. There are stigmas and there are consequences. I know victims of sexual assault, several of whom chose not to report these instances. Whether they did not want to have to deal with all the red tape that comes along with reporting, were in the same social circle as their rapist, did not want to dwell on the incident, did not want to "ruin somebody's life", were not sure if they would call it rape, did not want to bear responsibility for the closure or investigation into another fraternity, or simply did not want others to find out their name and know their business, the reality of the situation is this: it is not easy to report a rape.

It is courageous, yes. It is necessary to help combat future instances, yes. But easy, certainly not.
And those who suggest that these protesting voices are lying about what happened to them, tuning out what they have to say when speaking out is probably the hardest thing they will ever have to do, to you I suggest returning to college.

Despite a laundry list of degrees and qualifications, your ignorance is obvious to many, especially the lowly undergrads who are actually living in the rape culture you so adamantly denying the existence of.

Professor Reynolds continues:

In fact, rape on college campuses is — like rape everywhere else in America — plummeting in frequency. And that 1-in-5 college rape number you keep hearing in the press? It's thoroughly bogus, too.

The data Professor Reynolds is citing is the number of reported rapes, an interesting figure to use considering he also quotes those who claim those reporting are giving false testimony.

I do not claim to know the exact numbers of frequency of rape on college campuses. If sizable groups of the population continue to doubt and shame rape victims I doubt anyone will ever be able to gather that information.

I would love if rates of rape on college campuses really were "plummeting in frequency", but from what I have seen and know, I think decreasing rates of reporting would explain these trends and make more sense to a lot of people actually in college.

Saying there is not a problem does not make the problem go away, much like covering your eyes does not make you invisible to everyone else. Grow up.