"Rape-Culture"-Propaganda ordentlich ins Stolpern gekommen

Zeit für einen neuen Beitrag mit gesammelten aktuellen Beiträgen zur Rape-Culture-Hysterie in den USA (die punktuell auch nach Deutschland geschwappt ist):

Der liberalen, männerfreundlichen Feministin Cathy Young zufolge ist der Kreuzzug gegen eine angebliche "Rape Culture" ins Stolpern gekommen:

December has not been a good month for the feminist crusade against the "rape culture."

The Rolling Stone account of a horrific fraternity gang rape at the University of Virginia, which many advocates saw as a possible "tipping point" — a shocking wake-up call demonstrating that even the most brutal sexual assaults on our college campuses are tacitly tolerated—has unraveled to the point where only a true believer would object to calling it a rape hoax.

(...) "The man that Jackie describes, named ‘Drew’ in the story, is a real person on campus," wrote leading feminist pundit Amanda Marcotte, referring to Jackie’s date who supposedly brought her to a fraternity party and lured her into a rape trap. "He just happens to belong to another fraternity on campus. Which means that, while there’s a chance she’s lying, there’s also a very big and very real chance that this all happened and she just forgot what frat house it was at."

Now, it turns out "Drew" — or "Haven Monahan," the name Jackie originally gave her friends—doesn’t seem to exist after all, on the UVA campus, anywhere in the United States, or probably anywhere on the planet. His name is straight out of a particularly cheesy romance novel; his photo, which Jackie’s friends got in text messages, turned out to match a former high school classmate of hers who goes to a different college. It also looks like Jackie made up both "Haven" and the sexual assault he supposedly engineered in an attempt to get the romantic attention of Ryan Duffin, one of the friends she called for help that night. Tellingly, her lawyer has not commented on these revelations. The only alternate explanation is that Jackie is the victim of a diabolically clever frame-up by her ex-friends.

(...) But some of the blame must go to the movement that encouraged her in turning her fantasy of victimhood into activism — especially when that movement is so entrenched in its true-believer mindset that some of its adherents seem unable to accept contrary facts. Katherine Ripley, executive editor of the UVA student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, continued to post #IStandWithJackie tweets for days after the "Haven Monahan" story broke. Two other UVA students made a video thanking Jackie for "pulling back the curtain" on campus rape and praising her "bravery."

Meanwhile, even as the UVA saga unfolded, the "women’s page" of the online magazine Slate, Double X, published an outstanding long article by liberal journalist Emily Yoffe examining the excesses of the campus rape crusade—from the use of shoddy statistics to hype an "epidemic" of sexual violence against college women to the rise of policies that trample the civil rights of accused male students. The piece was retweeted nearly 2,500 times and received a great deal of positive attention, partly no doubt on the wave of the UVA/Rolling Stone scandal. Some of Yoffe’s critique echoes arguments made earlier by a number of mostly conservative and libertarian commentators. But, apart from the extensive and careful research she brings to the table, the fact that these arguments were given a platform in one of the premier feminist media spaces is something of a breakthrough, if not a turning point.

(...) Of course this is not to suggest that most such accounts are fabricated; but they are also filtered through subjective experience, memory, and personal bias. Yet, for at least three years, these stories been accorded virtually uncritical reception by the mainstream media. When I had a chance to investigate one widely publicized college case—that of Brown University students Lena Sclove and Daniel Kopin—for a feature in The Daily Beast, the facts turned out to bear little resemblance to the media narrative of a brutal rape punished with a slap on the wrist.

Now, in what may be another sign of turning tides, the accused in another high-profile case is getting his say. The New York Times has previously given ample coverage to Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student famous for carrying around a mattress to protest the school’s failure to expel her alleged rapist. Now, it has allowed that man, Paul Nungesser, to tell his story — a story of being ostracized and targeted by mob justice despite being cleared of all charges in a system far less favorable to the accused than criminal courts. No one knows whether Sulkowicz or Nungesser is telling the truth; but the media have at last acknowledged that there is another side to this story.

Will 2015 see a pushback against the anti-"rape culture" movement on campus? If so, good. This is a movement that has capitalized on laudable sympathy for victims of sexual assault to promote gender warfare, misinformation and moral panic. It’s time for a reassessment.

Auf zwei der von Cathy Young angerissenen Punkte möchte ich zumindest etwas näher eingehen. An der University of Virginia versucht man inzwischen, die Vandalen, die das Gebäude der falschbeschuldigten Burschenschaft verschandelten, in Regress zu nehmen:

'Leaders with the University of Virginia are seeking felony charges against whoever is responsible for vandalizing the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. (...) The student activist who led the vandalism attack said he does not have any regrets.

Über Paul Nungesser, der dadurch als Vergewaltiger gebrandmarkt wurde, dass eine Studentin seit Monaten mit einer Matratze durch die Gegend läuft, um damit ihre Sicht durchzusetzen, berichtet unter anderem die Daily Mail:

A Columbia University student accused of raping a classmate - who has been carrying around her mattress in protest ever since - has insisted he is a feminist.

Speaking to the New York Times in his first ever interview, Paul Nungesser called the rallies against him 'bullying' - and slammed the university for failing to prevent them.

He was accused by fellow senior Emma Sulkowicz of violently raping her in her dorm room more than two years ago, but the university cleared him in the case and in two others.

After learning about the decision, Sulkowicz started lugging around her 50-pound mattress to symbolize the burden she was carrying - and vowed to continue until he left the school.

The protest is also the subject of her senior thesis for the visual arts department - entitled 'Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)' - and has encouraged other students to rally with her.

Nungesser, who insisted the sex was consensual, told the Times he has finally decided to speak out because graduation is just months away. He insisted that he was innocent.

'My mother raised me as a feminist,' he said. 'And I'm someone who would like to think of myself as being supportive of equal rights for women.'

(...) The campus newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, chose to name Nungesser, saying that his name was available to the public in police reports.

Afterwards, he saw his name plastered across campus bathrooms and in online news articles, he told the New York Times. His friends started avoiding him, he said.

He said some people suggested there had been a misunderstanding between him and Sulkowicz.

'But the matter of the fact is it's not a misunderstanding,' he said. 'What was alleged was the most violent rape, and that did not happen.'

After Sulkowicz's allegations, students have held rallies on campus and in October, students at more than 100 colleges were inspired to carry mattresses to highlight campus sexual assault.

At Columbia, some students hauled their mattresses to one of Nungesser's classes and took photos of him as he entered the room.

Nungesser called the protests bullying and said the university has not prevented them, even though he has been cleared of wrongdoing.

'There is a member of the faculty that is supervising this,' he said, referring to Sulkowicz's thesis. 'This is part of her graduation requirement.'

(...) Sulkowicz stands by her story and as the New York Times published its article on Monday, she shared the piece on her Facebook page, writing: 'My rapist calls himself a feminist.'

(...) Nungesser said he is looking forward to leaving the school. He will graduate the same day as Sulkowicz - who said she might bring her mattress on stage.

Dass Männer immer noch glauben, Ideologinnen besänftigen zu können, indem sie sich ihrer Ideologie öffentlich unterwerfen, erstaunt mich immer wieder.

Und schließlich hat Katherine Timpf eine Liste der politisch korrektesten Momente an amerikanischen Hochschulen im Jahr 2014 zusammengestellt. Dort finden sich Perlen wie diese, über die auch Genderama noch nicht berichtete:

In November, Elon University instructed its orientation officers to use the term "first-year" instead of "freshman" because the term "freshman" is sexist and actually suggests that women might make good rape victims.

In June, more than 700 students, professors, and faculty at the University of Minnesota ordered the school to admit it’s just a product of the evil actions of colonial Americans and must fundamentally alter its structure to make it up to marginalized communities — starting with forcing all students to take a transgender-sensitivity class.

In September, the student editorial board at the University of Oklahoma wrote an article all about how bras are racist because they come in colors named "nude" and not everyone is that color when they’re nude. They also said that Band Aids were an example of white privilege.

Ich wünsche allen Lesern ein diskriminierungsfreies Weihnachtsfest!