<p>Yes, well, like everything, there is predatory behavior. I do not believe women are helpless. I do, however, due to the work I do, know for a fact that there are predators on college campuses, and like all sex offenders, they find places to hide out where their predatory behavior closely mirrors that of the culture around them. So, it is estimated that 90 percent of the rapes on a college campus are committed by a very small percentage of repeat offenders, and their predatory behavior, drugging drinks, finding drunk freshman, looks a lot like what you are describing as free will. However, if a young woman gets a rum and coke from a healthy guy, he won’t overpour, but the predator may well put a hell of a lot more rum in that drink than she wants. An older, experienced girl, will know this right away. A young freshman, who lacks experience, may not. </p>
<p>I’m not saying these girls are helpless. Find a place I’ve done that. I’m saying they are inexperienced when they get to campus. The rapists know this and they capitalize on it. We see it every fall.</p>
<h1>339 " My approach is to assume, absent actual, real life facts to the contrary, these adult women are attending these parties willingly, consuming alcohol voluntarily, and are freely engaging in sex as they are entitled to do, without judging them to be helpless, brainless pawns or victims of some powerful, patriarchal force. "</h1>
<p>If women knowingly attend parties at rapey fraternities that, by my definition, disrespect women, then they are disrespecting other women, too. And I find this reprehensible behavior. I definitely know women who participate in this type of culture because they derive some benefit. Usually I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they don’t understand exactly what they are doing.</p>
<h1>540 " So, it is estimated that 90 percent of the rapes on a college campus are committed by a very small percentage of repeat offenders,"</h1>
<p>You have me really thinking about this. Are all these repeat offenders really ending up in one or two fraternities? Thinking about the gang rape reported in the Sunday NYTimes - were all the repeat offenders on campus involved in that incident? Or are there some men who participate, who in other circumstances wouldn’t consider raping someone? Are there some men being corrupted by these repeat offenders?</p>
<p>How does a fraternity, with culture of disrespect towards women, impact members who may not have previously been misogynists?</p>
<p>It’s not overblown. in terms of the schizophrenia issue, it’s just that it’s a small minority of people who have this side effect. In terms of the general effects of marijuana on brain development, this is a relatively new field and it’s not well-understood yet. Even something as innocuous as a regular lack of sleep or irregular sleep patterns may cause irreversible brain damage; the extent of this is unknown as the study just came out in the past 6 months. Of course, alcohol is not good for the brain either. I’m not trying to put on Reefer Madness here. My point is that I wouldn’t tell a kid that something is ‘safe’; I would at the very least list the potential side effects and what likelihood they have of occurring, however remote. In terms of marijuana, I would be more comfortable telling someone it was safe for them if they were over 23. One last thing, in addition to the THC in the marijuana, there are other non-addictive but somewhat toxic additives. For that very reason, my neuroscience professor in Medical Pharmacology used to say that he would be in favor of legalizing THC but not marijuana.</p>
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<p>I have not smoked pot at all. I have seen a couple of cases on TV where people claim that they were introduced to a more serious drug when they thought they were going to smoke pot. I don’t think it was a big group of people, more like one other person, and the other person was comfortable with the more serious drug. You’re right that it’s not likely at all, but how likely are many of these other cases people are discussing? </p>
<p>Well, they aren’t necessarily even students. If the serial offenders are of the “jump from the bushes” variety, I find it less likely that they are students at the college itself as they would be easily caught. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how many of these statistics are reliable, so be wary of drawing conclusions from them. Maybe people think 90% of rapes are by serial offenders because the serial offenders tend to be caught eventually while the one-timers may slip through the cracks, which would make it seem like most of the rapes were committed by serial offenders. In Steven Pinker’s book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined,” he argues that some of the rape statistics often cited are “junk statistics.” I haven’t done it myself, but people pretty much have to go back to the original studies to see how they arrived at these statistics in order to determine how credible they are. </p>
<p>Yeah, that’s how I felt about the Duke porn star - her occupation exploits and totally disrespects women. Reprehensible. But in the words of poetgrl, that attitude is “old school.” It is judgey. Women are allowed to do whatever they want. You don’t get to decide what is acceptable behavior. They do. I guess you will have to get over it. </p>
<p>Great post. Earlier on CC I voiced a concern with the term rape culture … however I have NO issue with the term rape sub-culture … and there certainly seem to be a big issue in some groups … for example, some frats and some teams. </p>
<p>If I was the president of a college I’d want some hard data about the situation on my school while we were developing an action plan.<br>
Are most of the sexual assaults committed by serial offenders?
Of those not committed by serial offenders are there any common traits?
Are the sub-populations of the school with higher rates of the problem? (frats in general? specific frats?, teams?, specific teams? dorms? other EC groups?)</p>
<p>Then a more effective action plan can be developed. In reality a school can only change so many things at one time … they should want to be sure they have picked the changes that will have the biggest impact and approaches that will be most effective.</p>
<p>If most sexual assaults are committed by serial offenders I doubt there is any intervention/education the school can provide to these predators that will stop them from still wanting to commit these crimes. It seems to me the focus should be on identifying these guys, getting them off campus, prosecuting them, and making sure info about these cases travel with these students academic records to other schools.</p>
<p>There do seem to be three areas where general education to the overall population could be very helpful.
Mandatory training on the consent rules
Mandatory training on expectations and strategies for observers (one for the general population and one for groups)
Publish information about incidence rates cut many ways … by frat, by dorm, by team (whatever makes sense) … this could include other data like alcohol violations
(I know making these mandatory is a big deal … but what issue on campus other than alcohol is as epidemic?)</p>
<p>The other big area is the schools response when there is an alleged case. There has already be has been a ton of discussion on how schools can handle cases. There are a couple thoughts here …
In the case of the serial offenders what ever final decision the school makes suppressing the offenses in reports to other schools should not be allowed.
There also should be expectations and consequences for not meeting the expectations for observers and the groups to which they below. For example,
observers are expected to try to intervene in situations that know are inappropriate (ie, the women is passed out)
if there is an alleged event observers are required to report what they know
to stay in good standing a group must ensure the observers meet their expectations … so no saying “well that just Fred being Fred”, no internal handling the cases to the exclusion of the school, no protecting of the group member over pursuing justice, etc. The groups all exist as a privilege not a right … shape up or your group goes away.</p>
<p>I joined a co-ed fraternity in the 1970s, and met my husband through it (he had already graduated before I joined). Some chapters at other colleges remained all-male, and they tended to be more misogynous. There were several unpleasant incidents where they behaved badly during visits. I think some of the most egregious episodes involve young men - often athletes - who have been led to believe that they are entitled to get away with anything on account of their unrivalled AWESOMENESS. The Deke bros who marched across the Yale campus chanting “No means yes; yes means anal!” weren’t stupid. Most probably grew up in affluent, sophisticated households where the women are educated and, in many cases, professionally successful. They are accustomed to getting a pass, on account of their status and abilities, and never once thought that they might be slapped down for objectionable behavior. I can’t imagine that anyone bright enough to get into Yale nowadays considered that chant witty and clever. No, they knew just how obnoxious it was, but believed that anything they did and said would be accepted because they were the ones doing and saying it.</p>
<p>It certainly seems from the reports I hear that the number of assaults committed by frat brothers or athletes is higher than average among students. Has anyone looked at accused or convicted rapists and compared rates for students affiliated or not with frats or athletic teams? Is it really true frat members or athletes are more likely to be involved in these incidents or is it just that they get more press?</p>
<p>Hmmm. Well, I will say that when S’s frat had parties, they had someone stationed at the door to refuse entry to underclasspersons who were already obvious drunk. Because if that person had 12 shots of vodka in their dorm room, got into the frat house and had one beer and left, and was then picked up for drunkenness and said they had had a drink at the house, they were in for big trouble.</p>
<p>Not to say that they didn’t serve underclasspersons…</p>
<h1>1: Freshmen rushing fraternities or sororities, even BEFORE they start their first class, should be banned across the board for ALL colleges.</h1>
<h1>2: Mandatory training of all fraternity and sorority officers should include gender and race sensitivity training, as well as alcohol and drug education.</h1>
<h1>3: Before a student is allowed to join, they MUST sign a pledge with the university that they will not abuse alcohol or drugs, or engage in sexual harassment or assault.</h1>
<p>You may ask whether #2 and #3 matter. Thing is, the more the university has on a piece of paper that the fraternities and sororities knew what the rules were, then if they are broken there are signatures and action can be taken.</p>
<p>As for #1, when I was an undergrad they changed rushing from end of freshman year to beginning of sophomore year for pledging. No rushing before the first day of classes sophomore year. Greatly decreased the potential for abuse of kids barely out of the house by frats and sororities.</p>