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Bi-Weekly Discussion - Understanding Gender-Based Violence

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Brian B.
Bi-Weekly Discussion - Understanding Gender-Based Violence

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We're currently hosting our discussions at Café Walnut, not too far from our summer meeting spot in Washington Square Park. The cafe is near the corner of 7th & Walnut in Olde City. The cafe's entrance is below street level down some stairs, which can be confusing if it's your first time. Our group meets in the large room upstairs.

Since we're using the cafe's space, they ask that each person attending the meetup at least purchase a drink or snack. Please don't bring any food or drinks from outside. If you're hungry enough to eat a meal, they have more substantial fare such as salads, soups & sandwiches which are pretty good and their prices are reasonable.

The cafe is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 2 blocks west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east & 1 block north. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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UNDERSTANDING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

INTRODUCTION:

Originally, I planned to use this meetup to discuss "sexual grey areas" that have been reclassified as "sexual misconduct" by activists in recent years, along with some recently suggested various technological & educational solutions to these problems, but I've decided to push those topics to our next discussion. Instead, this meetup will examine the structural (economic, social, cultural) that appear to drive "gender-based violence" - a blanket term that includes rape & sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse.

We've covered sex & gender issues before in a pair of meetups last summer, entitled "The Economics of Sex" and "Sex, Demographics & Declinism":
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/wxsktmywkbmb/
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/241373059/

The first meetup looked at shifting patterns in dating & marriage due to the development of effective birth control in the mid 20th century and the trend towards dating for a longer period and marrying later in life. The second meetup looked at how declining wages of blue-collar men & the increasing educational & professional advancement of women may be tied to the decline in the marriage rate and how this also coincides with a general decline in the U.S. birth rate.

The connection between these socio-economic trends & gender-based violence may not be obvious, but many feminists are concerned that a lack of economic opportunity for women traps them in jobs where they get harassed and relationships where they get abused. There's also a lot of concern from establishment liberals about men becoming more abusive when they're under financial stress or unemployed, especially if they turn to alcohol or drug abuse, although feminists often see this as an attempt to abrogate the man's responsibility for his actions. Social conservatives often fear that as single mothers with cohabitating boyfriends replace married couples, both the women & children in this environment will be at higher risk of abuse.

We've also covered the structural issues underlying violent crime in several meetups, including one last fall entitled "The Deep Cultures of Violence" and one earlier this spring entitled "Public Safety & Civil Liberties":
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/zgmddnywmbwb/
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/249161091

The first meetup dealt with cultural factors that drive violent crime rates among poor white Southern males, poor urban black males, poor Hispanic immigrant males, and privileged white males. The second meetup dealt with how crime-fighting policies involve tradeoffs between public safety and civil liberties, and how crime reduction operates on the 3 factors that cause crime: means, motive, opportunity.

The connection between "honor culture" explanations of violent crime & gender-based violence is that the same men who are likely to assault or kill other men due to perceived disrespect may be more likely to use violence against women for the same reason -- i.e. for rejecting their sexual advances or arguing with them in a domestic context. In terms of tradeoffs, there's often a conflict between due process & the presumption of guilt when allegations of sexual assault, domestic violence, or workplace harassment are made. Feminists typically stress that we need to "believe women" whereas civil libertarians argue that presumption of innocence must take precedence.

Policy makers also differ in the ways they try to reduce gender-based violence. Many feminists insist on focusing almost exclusively on reducing the motive -- i.e. end "rape culture" by teaching men to respect women. Conversely, many establishment liberals want to focus on reducing the means for gender-based violence, which often reducing drug & alcohol consumption, but also taking guns away from abusive men - feminists tend to favor the latter but as I mentioned above, they're wary of blaming drugs or alcohol for male violence. Meanwhile, social conservatives have their own views of how to reduce the motive -- i.e. return to traditional gender norms & Judeo-Christian morality -- and they also often want to focus on reducing the opportunity for gender-based violence by reducing or eliminating co-ed dorms, hookup culture, pre-marital cohabitation, gender-integrated workplaces, etc. There's also significant differences in views of police intervention & incarceration as solutions to gender-based violence - so-called "carceral" feminists and "law & order" conservatives tend to favor the law enforcement approach, although they often perceived the greatest threats coming from different populations, namely their "out-groups" - i.e. feminists tend to focus on sexual assaults & harassment committed by privileged, straight white males, whereas conservatives tend to focus on sexual assaults & harassment committed by poor black males, illegal immigrants & Muslims. Meanwhile, "anti-carceral" feminists & libertarians tend to be wary of human rights abuses & unintended consequences of a heavy-handed approach and want more focus on sexual education & "transformative justice" solutions.

As with our last meetup on equal opportunity, I've tried to identify different schools of thought in the recent debates over sex & gender-related issues. I've come up with roughly 6 factions, listed in order from left-wing to right-wing political alignment:

  1. Radical/Gender Feminists: see a complete social revolution as necessary to end patriarchy (and capitalism & white supremacy), which they believe is the ultimate cause of gender-based violence; often see issues of gender-based violence in black & white terms (e.g. drunk sex = rape, cat calling = rape threats, sexy ads & music videos = porn = rape culture) and favor draconian punishments (e.g. long-term incarceration, castration, death penalty) by the legal system, even voiding due process.

  2. Protectionist/Carceral Feminists & Establishment Liberals: see promoting women's economic equality within capitalism & the enforcement of legislation like Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act as the key to reducing gender-based violence; generally opposed to pornography & see most or all prostitution as "sex trafficking", although they generally don't favor punishments quite as draconian as the radical feminists.

  3. Sex-Positive/Anti-Carceral Feminists: see sexual education & transformative justice as the key to reducing gender-based violence; opposed to draconian law enforcement solutions of carceral & radical feminists and view some sex offenders as capable of being rehabilitated; favor legalizing prostitution & other forms of "sex work".

  4. Individualist/Equity Feminists & Cultural Libertarians: similar views as sex-positive & anti-carceral feminists, but tend to see moral panics about gender-based violence from either the left or right as more of a threat than the crimes themselves, which are assumed to be relatively rare; occasionally endorse "men's rights" issues but without the apocalyptic tone of reactionary MRAs.

  5. Traditional/Law & Order Conservatives: see declining marriage rates & sexual promiscuity as the cause of gender-based violence; like the establishment liberals, they're generally opposed to pornography & see most or all prostitution as "sex trafficking".

  6. "Red Pill" MRAs & Neoreactionaries: similar views as traditional conservatives but see the rise of feminism and/or demographic decline of whites as the major problem, and they often fault the center-right "cuckservatives" for not doing more to stop this; view feminists & their left-wing political allies as surreptitiously using the welfare & divorce laws to subvert the traditional family while allowing non-white criminals to rape & beat women with immunity.

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DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and "raunch culture". As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles & watch all the videos prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about 45 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. STATISTICS & CAUSAL FACTORS FOR RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT:

  • HOW COMMON ARE RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE U.S., AND CONSIDERING UNDER-REPORTING IS A MAJOR CONCERN, HOW SOLID IS THE DATA?

  • WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE RISK DISTRIBUTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT BY AGE, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, RACE & CLASS?

  • IS SEXUAL ASSAULT MORE COMMON IN CERTAIN LOCALES - LIKE COLLEGE CAMPUSES - OR IN CERTAIN SUBCULTURES, LIKE INSULAR RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES OR IMMIGRANT ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS?

  • IS PRISON RAPE SO COMMON THAT THE U.S. HAS ABOUT AN EQUAL NUMBER OF MALE & FEMALE RAPE VICTIMS EACH YEAR?

  • HOW COMMON ARE FALSE RAPE ACCUSATIONS, AND DO THEY OCCUR MORE OFTEN IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE INFIDELITY OR DRUNKEN ONE-NIGHT STANDS? CAN WE PUNISH FALSE ACCUSERS WITHOUT DISINCENTIVIZING FUTURE RETRACTIONS?

  • SINCE ALCOHOL IS INVOLVED IN ABOUT HALF OF SEXUAL ASSAULTS, CAN WE REDUCE SEXUAL ASSAULT MERELY BY REDUCING ALCOHOL'S AVAILABILITY OR INCREASING ITS COST?

  • WHO SHOULD WE CONSIDER “SEX OFFENDERS”? ARE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES EFFECTIVE - AND IF SO, ARE THEY ETHICAL?

  • CAN SOME SEX OFFENDERS BE REHABILITATED? FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT, IS CHEMICAL CASTRATION EFFECTIVE - AND IF SO, IS IT ETHICAL?

  • IS LONG-TERM INCARCERATION FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT JUSTIFIED FOR ISOLATION & EXPRESSIVE PURPOSES, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T RESULT IN REHABILITATION NOR DETER FUTURE OFFENDERS?

1a) Christina Hoff Sommers, "Sexual Assault in America: Do we know the true numbers? " (video - 4:49 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNsJ1DhqQ-s

1b) NowThis World, "What Is A Sex Offender? What Rights Do Sex Offenders Have?" (video - 3:10 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vNH_9vzqqo

1c) Practical Ethics w/ Tom Douglas, "Should we chemically castrate sex offenders?" (video - 5:49 min.)
https://youtu.be/k5LsqOYf488?t=14

II. STATISTICS & CAUSAL FACTORS FOR WORKPLACE HARASSMENT & BULLYING:

  • HOW COMMON IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE, AND HOW DOES IT VARY BY PROFESSION?

  • IS MALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN MORE COMMON THAN FEMALE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF MEN? HOW COMMON IS SAME-SEX HARASSMENT?

  • DO INTERVENTIONS LIKE CLOSED OFFICE DESIGN & DISCOURAGING AFTER-HOURS FRATERNIZING (E.G. COMPANY HAPPY HOURS & SPORTS OUTINGS) HELP REDUCE SEXUAL HARASSMENT? HOW CAN WE WEIGH THIS AGAINST ITS POSSIBLE NEGATIVE EFFECT ON TEAM-BUILDING & MENTORING?

  • IS THE "PENCE RULE" A GOOD WAY TO AVOID ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR A FORM OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN?

  • SHOULD EMPLOYERS BAN EMPLOYEE DATING, OR MERELY ENSURE DATING EMPLOYEES DON'T OVERSEE ONE ANOTHER OR DIRECTLY WORK TOGETHER?

  • DO LARGE SETTLEMENTS IN CIVIL SUITS FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT INCENTIVIZE FALSE CLAIMS?

  • SHOULD NON-SEXUAL WORKPLACE BULLYING BE TAKEN AS SERIOUSLY AS SEXUAL HARASSMENT & MADE ILLEGAL?

  • IS THE TENDENCY FOR FEMALE BOSSES TO BULLY FEMALE SUBORDINATES CAUSED BY SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ASSIMILATING PATRIARCHAL ATTITUDES OR AN INNATE PART OF FEMALE PSYCHOLOGY?

2a) Yuki Noguchi, "Low-Wage Workers Say #MeToo Movement Is A Chance For Change" (podcast - 5:42 min.)
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/583428098/low-wage-workers-say-metoo-movement-is-a-chance-for-change

2b) Fortune, "#MeToo Is Making Men Uncomfortable" (video - 1:27 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RemxZcd0I80

2c) Studio 10, "Women Don't Want To Work For A Woman" (video - 4:47 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C57mK0GXCas

III. STATISTICS & CAUSAL FACTORS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:

  • HOW COMMON IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, AND HOW DOES IT VARY BY RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION & CLASS?

  • WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ABOUT THE CAUSES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? DO CHILDREN OF ABUSERS TYPICALLY OFFEND AS ADULTS?

  • ARE WOMEN AS LIKELY TO ENGAGE IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS MEN? IF SO, WHY DON'T WE HEAR MORE ABOUT ABUSED MEN?

  • ARE MANDATORY ARREST POLICIES IN CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CALLS TO POLICE EFFECTIVE OR COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE?

  • SHOULD COUPLES' COUNSELING BE USED IN LESS SEVERE CASES OF DOMESTIC ABUSE?

  • DO DIVORCE & CHILD CUSTODY CASES OFTEN LEAD TO FALSE CLAIMS OF SPOUSAL OR CHILD ABUSE?

  • WOULD A RETURN TO TRADITIONAL SOCIAL NORMS THAT ENCOURAGED EARLY MARRIAGES BE A GOOD WAY TO DECREASE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

  • SINCE ALCOHOL IS INVOLVED IN MANY CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SHOULD WE TRY TO PREVENT IT BY REDUCING ALCOHOL'S AVAILABILITY OR INCREASING ITS COST?

  • DOES WOMEN'S ECONOMIC INEQUALITY INCREASE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? IF SO, HOW CAN WE EXPLAIN THE "NORDIC PARADOX", I.E. THE NORDIC COUNTRIES HAVE THE HIGHEST GENDER EQUALITY RANKINGS IN THE WORLD BUT THE HIGHEST RATES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (AROUND 50%) IN THE E.U.?

3a) Seeker, "Just How Common Is Domestic Violence?" (video - 2:58 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNbG3FIGk_w

3b) "Theories of family violence" (video - 6:29 min, watch til 5:40)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNq7kJ6k-LU

IV. "RAUNCH CULTURE" & THE SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION VS SEXUAL DEPRIVATION DEBATE:

  • WHAT'S THE EVIDENCE THAT "RAUNCH CULTURE" - E.G. PORN, STRIP CLUBS, SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MUSIC LYRICS & MUSIC VIDEOS, ETC. - PROMOTES NEGATIVE ATTITUDES LIKE OBJECTIFICATION & SEXUAL ENTITLEMENT THAT IN TURN INCREASE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN?

  • IS THE PROPENSITY TO COMMIT SEXUAL ASSAULT CORRELATED TO TESTOSTERONE LEVELS?

  • WHAT'S THE EVIDENCE THAT SEXUAL DEPRIVATION IN MEN CAN LEAD THEM TO COMMIT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE?

  • IS "INVOLUNTARY CELIBACY" INCREASING & IF SO, WHY?

  • WOULD LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION BE A GOOD SOLUTION TO BOTH SEXUAL DEPRIVATION OF MEN & SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, OR DOES IT REDUCE THE FORMER AT THE EXPENSE OF THE LATTER?

4a) Young Turks, "Porn Reduces Sexual Violence - Study" (video - 3:41 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbjbxHLkL8c

4b) Young Turks, "Rhode Island Mistakenly Decriminalized Prostitution - The Result Was Incredible" (video - 6:12 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AHCuOUCyok

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