From Campus Reform.
Excerpt:
Dr. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus and current professor of public service at The George Washington University (GWU), has become the subject of outrage from feminists on social media for suggesting that alcohol education may help prevent sexual assaults on campus.
During an episode of the Diane Rehm Show last week, Trachtenberg participated in a panel discussion about Greek Life at U.S. colleges in which he suggested that binge-drinking is a factor in instances of sexual misconduct.
“Part of the problem is you have men who take advantage of women who drink too much and there are women who drink too much,” said Trachtenberg, adding that “we need to educate our daughters and our children in that regard.”
Although Trachtenberg prefaced his remarks by saying people should further encourage women to not drink in excess “without making the victims responsible for what happens,” female students and women’s groups flooded Twitter, calling his remarks “irresponsible” and accusing him of “gross victim blaming” and being a “rape apologist.”
Sally Kaplan, a recent graduate of GWU and peace alliance coordinator at the non-profit organization, the Peace Alliance, created a petition using the online platform Change.org to demand that Trachtenberg “issue an apology to the GWU community” and match her and other students’ crowdfunding efforts to hire a full-time “Survivors Advocate” at the university.
The petition also calls on the university to provide “better support for university students including more prevention, intervention, education and survivor advocacy resources.” Ironically, in a piecepublished by administrators the day after Trachtenberg’s remarks, the university promoted a sexual assault prevention event sponsored by GWU’s Center for Alcohol and other Drug Education.
According to Campus Safety Magazine, “at least 50 percent of college student sexual assaults are associated with alcohol use.”
In a column published last October, Slate contributor Emily Yoffe explained that “a misplaced fear of blaming the victim has made it somehow unacceptable to warn inexperienced young women that when they get wasted, they are putting themselves in potential peril.”
“Let’s be totally clear: Perpetrators are the ones responsible for committing their crimes, and they should be brought to justice. But we are failing to let women know that when they render themselves defenseless, terrible things can be done to them,” wrote Yoffe.
I think I should not marry a radical feminist for the following reason. They want to be able to perform reckless actions and then blame other people when predictable consequences occur. That is scary to me. I want to marry someone who checks her own behavior and makes good decisions. When things go wrong, I want her to take responsibility for her own actions instead of playing the victim. I think the reaction by feminists is also revealing because it seems to show why they are so pro-abortion. In that issue, the feminists want the recreational sex, but not the responsibility for what the choice to have recreational sex produces. Except in that case, it’s the innocent child who suffers from the mother’s recklessness.
“I think I should not marry a radical feminist for the following reason.”
Also, you should not marry anyone close to even a mild feminist, because you are all about facts, data, and reason – and they are about “tingles.” Furthermore, there cannot be too many conservative feminists, radical or otherwise. :-)
I still say that, instead of your first question being about apologetics, ask your prospect what her opinion is on abortion and why she holds it. You will eliminate more than half of women (randomly) on the first part, and another 70-80% (I am guessing) on the second part of that single question.
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Abortion is in the list of questions.
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Because women should *never* be held responsible for getting drunk… yuck!
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Another issue is that feminists who use the buzz words and phrases “teach men not to rape” and “rape culture” are mischaracterizing rape and the issue as a whole, which is subsequently misinforming women into self-destructive attitudes and actions. Rape is an act of unmitigated evil, and pretending it can be taught or conditioned out of men and culture is a dangerous delusion that is encouraging reckless behavior. Simply, “culture” and “teach” are fluid and not rigid enough terms and understate and incorrectly frame the issue. I would dare even say it’s misogynistic.
If you repeatedly tell a group of divers that nothing should stop you from enjoying swimming in waters at dusk when underwater visibility is low. That, it’s ok to cover yourself in chum and blood, wear shiny objects, splash around a lot and not be in an underwater cage. And you know what? The divers do it and people get bitten repeatedly. And then you say, well that’s because sharks need to be taught not to attack and they have a “bite culture,” but keep doing what you’re doing because it is you’re God-given right to swim unfettered, and that’s how true swimmers act is as stupid as it is useless and borderline malevolence.
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Love the shark analogy! (I’m an open water marathon sort, and what lies beneath is always of prime interest to me. :-))
I just don’t understand how the feminists can be anti-choice on rape and pro-choice on abortion. Oh yeah: on the latter, it is THEIR choice. But, an a-theist who says rape is wrong is truly contradicting his or her naturalism.
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It would seem pretty obvious that if you don’t want to get raped while passed out drunk, you probably shouldn’t get passed out drunk around other people.
Kind of like if you don’t want to lose your watch, you shouldn’t set it on the seat of your car and leave the doors unlocked.
Normal people call this taking precautions, feminists call it “victim blaming,” even though no one aside from rapists thinks rape is excusable or should be legal.
I wonder when it will be considered “victim blaming” to tell people to wear seat belts if they want to avoid injury. “I shouldn’t have to wear a seat belt, we should just teach people to drive safely!”
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