Keep misandry out of feminism

I am a feminist, so the first words I spoke at a recent town hall meeting on the new sexual assault procedures were in praise of the University’s speedy response to the new Title IX regulations. Victims of sexual assault will now have a clearer understanding of their options. They can be advised by outside counsel at meetings. Professional investigator-judges have replaced student judges, so victims can step forward without embarrassment. Our compliance marks a huge victory for women on campus, and we’re all better off as a result.

I voiced a single worry at the town hall meeting: that the new “preponderance of the evidence” standard will, definitionally, increase the likelihood of false convictions. Unknowingly, I had struck a hole into a dam. Cries of “rape culture” spewed forth.

Let me take a detour to explain that I do not mean to protect rapists. Nor do I mean to paint false accusations to be a common occurrence. They’re not. A 1997 investigation by the US Department of Justice found that only about 8 percent of rape accusations are false. This figure is contested on both sides, with some asserting a lower rate of 2 percent and a peer-reviewed study by criminologist Eugene Kanin finding a rate as high as 41 percent. Regardless of which statistic comes closest to the truth, false reports are the minority.

I should also make this clear: I am not writing to lament the lower evidence standard. Its institution is federally mandated, and it’s here to stay. Instead I write about a greater concern that those at the town hall pressed upon me. To articulate that concern, I must return to the discussion that took place there. A student who spoke after me argued that the “preponderance” standard is necessary because evidence in a rape case is inherently shaky. If a victim steps forward a month after the rape, there may not be any evidence at all.

This is a consideration I sympathize with. However, the belief between the lines — that verbal testimony alone should be enough to convict an accused perpetrator — worries me. So too do the finger quotes that female speakers slashed into the air when they spoke about “rights of the accused.” Their meaning was clear and powerful: Accused men do not have rights, and the best way to fight rape culture is to presume men guilty until proven innocent.

The truth is that, as with any crime, false accusations do happen. Maybe my worry — that these new and valuable victories will come at the cost of false convictions — is misplaced. Maybe mistakes will be rare enough that the benefit of suspending more rapists will outweigh the cost of suspending more innocent people. I don’t know, and neither does anyone else. What I do know is that this same worry affects other men.

Here is my great concern: The input from worried men was not received kindly at the town hall. Rather, I was accused of being “steeped in rape culture.” My accuser was not alone in her belief, for her comment set off an avalanche of smug glances aimed in my direction. Buried there, I did not dare speak again — my ideas were not welcome.

But this is an important conversation, and all ideas should be heard. A few women have turned the dialogue into a battle against men and women, and in doing so I fear that they will turn men away from feminism. Men feel marginalized when our worries about a real, higher risk of wrongful suspension are disregarded. Attributing these worries to rape culture only distances us further because we begin to think that this is what feminism has become — a bias against males that mistakes all male viewpoints for oppression.

Treating an accused perpetrator as innocent until he is found guilty can be an outgrowth of human decency, not rape culture. Similarly, the belief that men are guilty until proven innocent is misandry, not feminism. Keeping the two separate is important. Feminism is the struggle to reach equality for the sexes. It is not misandry, a bias against males. Sadly, many men forget this because misandrists never identify as such. They will tell you they are simply feminists.

Conflating feminism and misandry like this hurts women as much as it hurts men. Men suffer when misandry is codified, and women suffer by losing male support for the noble goals of feminism. We must remember that this is not a battle of the sexes. Men, remember that feminism means equality — not misandry. Women, remember that men are not an enemy entrenched in rape culture. For that matter, remember that rape culture does not exist as misandrists might imagine it. According to a 2002 study, 94 percent of men have never raped and will never rape anyone. We shun sexual assault with the same fervor as women do, for we are allies working toward the same goal. That goal can be realized only if we work together, and for more men to work with us, feminism must shed the misandrist beliefs that hide under its name.

Newby Parton is a freshman fromMcMinnville, Tenn. He can be reached at newby@princeton.edu.