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E-PrinceImagine the following scenario: A girl goes to a frat party, drinks too much and has sex with a guy she just met. The next day she does not remember anything. When she finally realizes what occurred, she wants her ...
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Depressing to read, easy to puncture.
"Therefore, the girl willingly got herself into a state in which she could not act rationally. This, in my opinion, is equivalent to agreeing to anything that might happen to her while in this state."
A man gets drunk. He has therefore agreed to theft, physical assault, and possible murder, and shouldn't blame any opportunistic fellow who walks by, much less press charges, since what has happened to him during his inebriation isn't a crime.
"Since the beginning of time, society has taught us that whenever a situation like this arises, the fault belongs almost entirely to the male participant."
One wishes the writer had done a little digging. "A majority of women believe some rape victims should take responsibility for what happened, a survey suggests."[1][2] "Women who take their rapists to court are still routinely blamed and denigrated, either by defence attorneys or by onlookers, and there are still some who argue that preventing rape is somehow inherently the victim's responsibility."[6]
The idea that rape prevention is the responsibility of the victims rather than the rapists is problematic and been proven ineffectual.[3] This shifting of responsibility to the victims has, however, become so entrenched that the idea of young men being able to make their own rational decisions with regards to rape has become unusual, even surprising.[4]
In case the writer shares the common misperception that women often file false or rape reports, I would like to point out that the true (estimated) incidence of false reporting of rape is very low, while the number of unreported rapes is very, very high:
"Portland police, Huhtanen said, found that 1.6 percent of sexual assault cases were falsely reported."[5] "Statistics available at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (Rainn) state that about 60% of all sexual assaults aren't reported to the police."[6]
"We live in times when sexual discrimination has, more or less, disappeared from our society."
I think you might gain a great deal from a Gender Studies class. The deconstruction of this pretty little phrase would take far too long. Cf. abortion, homosexual marriage, pay gap, universal daycare, male privilege, slut shaming, etc.
With all respect for the writer's courage to write on this topic, I hope she will take the time to read the links, do a little exploring of her own, and thoroughly inform herself about the issues she so lightly glosses over.
[1]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8515592.stm
[2]http://salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2010/02/16/women_rape_blaming
[3]http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=combating_the_campus_rape_crisis
[4]http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2009/09/15/sexual-assault-prevention-tips-guaranteed-to-work/
[5]http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2005/12/07/rape_victim_found_guilty/index.html
[6]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/08/rape-women-usa-today
And now I abandon the comments to the trolls.
Bravo to the commenter above. This article is so bad it offends me. It would be ridiculous if the subject matter weren't so serious.
You think sexual discrimination has disappeared from our society? What planet are you living on?
Ugh. I don't know what to say. I'm just looking forward to how viciously this article is going to get roasted (hopefully) in the comments. Do me proud, Prince commentators.
"Since the beginning of time, society has taught us that whenever a situation like this arises, the fault belongs almost entirely to the male participant."
No. False. Historically, women are often shamed for rape. Still happens around the world.
Look, it takes two to tango or whatever, but people shouldn't really be having sex if they think the other one is wasted. It's just disrespectful. The guy in the story was obviously not inebriated enough to prevent him from having sex. Maybe he should have had a bit more respect for the woman involved. It's just the mature thing to do.
prince FAIL and freshman FAIL. millionth prince article that does a terrible job portraying sexual assault as it stands on campus and across the country (unless you count the obviously entirely necessary interventions by SHARE and SpeakOut). while you reevaluate statements about how men take all the responsibility for rape (have you ever heard of blaming the victim???) and how gender discrimination no longer exists, i'm going to reevaluate the statement "opinions can never be wrong."
how many female friends do you have, iulia? how about you devoted prince readers that actually buy into this bs? now divide that by 5. that's how many girls you know that, using conservative statistics, will experience attempted or completed sexual assault before they graduate from college--and princeton is included.
if you haven't had your life affected by sexual assault--whether in personal experience or that of a loved one--i honestly don't think you have a right to talk about this like you know anything at all. if you have, and you still feel this way, i'm completely baffled.
i didn't think my contempt for the prince could get any worse. thanks, prince, and thanks, writer, for setting women back just a liiiittle bit farther on campus.
SHARE and SpeakOut: get ready to defend the issue for "the nth time."
"Since the beginning of time, society"--.
While your argument is flawed in some places, I too feel it's kind of weird how everyone just bobs their heads in agreement when a girl who had sex with someone while blackout wants to press rape charges. Never been raped, but I know I'd blame myself in some large measure. Did I give consent? I don't know. Even if I don't remember giving consent, I'd still call it giving consent, no matter what the law says.
this post is literally sickening. response:
http://equalwrites.org/2010/02/22/prince-column...
Go froshie, bringing up some of the points that I've been losing sleep over since freshman year. It still scares me shitless that every time I take a girl home, all she has to do is cry rape and my life will be completely and irreversibly destroyed. Basically, the whole victim mentality really gets on my nerves - when you get drunk, you understand that you won't be thinking clearly, just as you know if you park your car in Camden it might very well get stolen.
A horror story from a friend of mine: he was at a dance in high school when a girl who had a few drinks started dancing with him aggressively. Hands went places, but he was weirded out and didn't take it any further. Next day, girl was ashamed and cried sexual assault, even though intercourse never even took place, and the only thing that saved my friend from expulsion and living with a sex offender label for the rest of his life was a ridiculously lucky break on his part.
I'm very disappointed the Prince staff allowed this to be published. They're obviously just using a poor freshman as a sacrifice to the publicity gods. Now, everyone will talk about this tomorrow, read their Princes, and post here. It's really not okay to publish something like this, and the only reason it would be is for readership.
God, this is absolutely the worst article I have ever read, and it saddens me, only because I think the opinion she took has validity. But wow, did this author do that viewpoint a great disservice. This incoherent rambling makes me cringe.
The first commentator did a good job ripping apart this argument. But my question is this: what happens when a girl gives consent, but doesn't remember. The scenario isn't that hard to imagine and probably happens quite a bit. Girl and guy drink a lot. Both are blacked out or semi-blacked out (remembering that this phrase doesn't mean they are passed out or unconscious, but simply cannot remember the events that happened when they are in this stage). Girl goes home with guy and gives consent. Wakes up, doesn't remember, and cries foul. Why is the guy to blame in this case? Because he, being in the same state of intoxication, should have known that she was not really giving meaningful consent, when even she doesn't know it.
This is probably the scenario the author means brings up and it is indeed a troubling one, because it probably happens quite frequently and there is really no way to prove what happens.