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Biweekly Discussion - Is/Was There A Campus Rape Crisis?

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Brian B.
Biweekly Discussion - Is/Was There A Campus Rape Crisis?

Details

We're currently hosting our discussions at Café Walnut, 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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WHAT SHOULD SKEPTICS MAKE OF THE "CAMPUS RAPE CRISIS" IN THE MID-2010s?

DID THE MEDIA CALL ATTENTION TO A REAL "RAPE EPIDEMIC" ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, OR WAS IT JUST A MORAL PANIC OVER COLLEGE "HOOKUP CULTURE" & "TOXIC MASCULINITY"?

INTRODUCTION:

Back on January 28th, Columbia University researchers Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan spoke about their new book Sexual Citizens at the Free Library, which details the findings from their 2015–2017 study of on-campus sexual assault at Columbia and Barnard College. As a follow-up, I figured it would be useful to have a meetup to address the available evidence we have on prevailing trends & contributing factors in the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses. Hopefully, along the way, we can clear up some misconceptions that have proliferated in the public sphere due to sensationalistic reporting and inaccurate statistics pushed by activist groups.

In retrospect, it appears that the past decade's debates over rape & sexual assault on college campuses was due in large part to the uptick in mainstream news coverage in the wake of the Obama administration's 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter which provided new Title IX guidelines for colleges. The letter told all of the colleges that receive federal money to use a lower standard of proof, a "preponderance of evidence", in sexual assault cases and required universities to allow accusers to appeal not-guilty findings, a form of double jeopardy. It also told schools to accelerate their adjudications, with a recommended 60-day limit, and strongly discouraged cross-examination of accusers. Critics argued this led to many unfair disciplinary hearings & unjustified expulsions, while proponents argued it was a necessary correction since in the past many colleges did little to address high rates of sexual assault on their campuses. (The letter's guidelines were rescinded by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in 2017.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_sexual_assault#Obama_administration_efforts

The most notable spikes in news coverage of what came to be known as the "campus rape crisis" came between 2014 & 2016. It started in 2014 with the White House PSA "1 is 2 Many" -- a viral video that featured President Obama & Vice President Biden, as well as several major actors like Daniel Craig, Benicio Del Toro & Steve Carell. The video launched their "It's On Us" campaign to raise awareness about sexual assaults on campus, and this was followed by the passage of California's "affirmative consent" law. That same year, there were a flurry of news stories about art student Emma Sulkowicz carrying her mattress around on Columbia University's campus to protest their dismissal of her rape case against a former friend & fellow student, and there was a major controversy over fact-checking & due diligence in journalism when a Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at a UVA fraternity had to be retracted due to major inconsistencies in the alleged victim's story. In 2015, Emma Sulkowicz stirred further controversy by releasing a graphic sex tape that reenacted her account of her rape, and the documentary film "The Hunting Ground" painted a dire picture of college campuses overrun by sexual predators, but it was sharply criticized by a group of Harvard law professors who claimed it misrepresented a case at their school. In 2016, the case against Brock Turner for sexual assault at Stanford concluded with a light 6 month sentence sparking public outrage, especially compared to the much longer 15-year sentences received by black football players in the Vanderbilt rape case, and a sexual assault scandal erupted with the football team at Baylor University.

Google Trends show that the topic "campus sexual assault" began to slowly decline in 2017 even as the topic of "sexual assault" increased. This suggests that sexual assault continued to be a major news topic, but there was a divergence due to the news media's focus shifting from colleges to similar problems in the entertainment industry as the allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein began to break. The Weinstein scandal was quickly followed by allegations of sexual misconduct against a long list of major actors, musicians, newscasters, and business leaders. This was the genesis of the #MeToo Movement, which dominated the discussion of sexual assault & sexual harassment in 2017-2018. "Sex trafficking" has also continued to capture headlines even as media interest in campus sexual assaults has declined, and Google Trends shows the topic of "sex trafficking" has had slow but steady growth through the 2000s, surpassing #MeToo in 2019. (I'm putting "sex trafficking" in quotes because, as we discussed in a past meetup, media accounts often conflate voluntary sex work with coercive pimping and urban legends about kidnappers selling victims into sexual slavery.)

But while the news media may have moved on to broader discussions about sexual misconduct & sexual exploitation, what should the skeptic community make of the "campus rape crisis" that occupied so much public attention in the mid-2010s? Was the problem as bad as we were led to believe? If so, has the problem been successfully addressed by law enforcement & college administrators, or is it just drawing less media coverage?

We must start by noting that rape & sexual assault are not comparable to the dubious pseudoscientific & paranormal phenomena that scientific skeptics typically investigate. These crimes certainly do occur on college campuses and can be incredibly traumatizing for the victims. If one subscribes to the theories of retributive justice or expressive justice, it's reasonable to demand that the criminal justice system should give convicted rapists long prison sentences to express society's abhorrence of their actions and show solidarity with their victims. To the extent that violent sex offenders are likely to be recidivist, it makes sense to isolate them from the rest of society. And to the extent their crimes are premeditated & "rational" (in an amoral & selfish sense), it makes sense to try to deter would-be sexual predators with the threat of swift & certain punishment.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_offender#Recidivism

However, the highly inflammatory nature of sex crimes should also make us wary of the prevailing media narratives around these issues -- especially when we consider "moral panics" in the past that have surrounded allegations of sexual deviancy & sex crimes. These forms of moral panics are common enough they have earned their own term -- "sex panics". Historians, sociologists & social psychologists have identified a series of sex panics through American history, ranging from allegations of sexual congress with the Devil during the Puritan witch trials, to Jim-Crow-era fears of miscegenation & lynchings of black men accused of assaulting white women, to the Second Red Scare's targeting of closeted homosexuals in government as potential traitors.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/21/americas-five-sex-panics/

One of the most notorious examples of a sex panic is the "Satanic ritual abuse" cases of the 1980s. It began with the 1980 bestselling book Michelle Remembers which claimed to be the true story of a Canadian girl that was sexually abused by a Satanic cult in the 1950s. In hindsight, the book was riddled with problems, but the idea that child molestation & devil worship could be a growing threat seemed plausible to many people at the time -- especially Christian conservatives. This was because leaders of the Religious Right had been warning that gay activists arguing for equal rights were actually promoting pedophilia, and they also claimed heavy metal music was inducting teenagers into Satanism. (Even many people who didn't believe in the devil still became very anxious about children's safety during the 1980s, as more children were attending daycares & becoming "latchkey kids" and milk cartons began to feature the faces of missing children.)

In 1983, "Satanic ritual abuse" jumped from rumors into reality when a paranoid mother at the McMartin preschool in California alleged that a worker had molested her child. This morphed into a torrent of bizarre & sexually graphic accusations from multiple children once psychiatrists began using "recovered memory therapy" on them and asking if they'd been molested or witnessed any occult rituals. The power of suggestion & subtle coercion led children to tell investigators outlandish tales of sexual abuse, strange rituals, secret tunnels, human sacrifices, and supernatural events. Similar cases began to crop up across the U.S., totalling over 20 by the end of the decade. By the mid to late 1980s, a sizeable portion of the American public suspected that devil-worshiping child molesters were lurking in every town. This fear gradually dissipated in the 1990s, but some childcare workers who had been convicted of "Satanic ritual abuse" remained in prison well into the 21st century.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-care_sex-abuse_hysteria

Several critics have pointed out eerie parallels between this earlier "Satanic ritual abuse panic" and the "campus rape crisis" of the 2010s. In a 2014 article in Time, Christina Hoff Summers argued that exaggerated concerns over a supposed "rape epidemic" on college campuses bear a striking resemblance to the Satanic panic of the 1980s, albeit with new elements swapped into the old narrative: college parties have replaced daycares as the focus of the panic, foggy memories of drunken hookups have replaced "repressed memories" of child molestation, and "rape culture" has replaced Satanism as the spurious cause. In a Guardian article in 2013, Dorian Linskey pointed out that the controversy over Robin Thicke's hit song "Blurred Lines" which supposedly promoted rape culture is similar to the panic over heavy metal lyrics that prompted the creation of Tipper Gore's "Parent's Music Resource Center" in 1985. And in a series of articles at Reason magazine, Elizabeth Nolan Brown has drawn a parallel between the widespread fear of child kidnappings in the 1980s and today's overblown fear of "sex traffickers" snatching young women off the street. Viewed in this light, when we compare the "Satanic panic" to the "campus rape panic", it appears the only missing element is the fear of the occult.
https://time.com/100091/campus-sexual-assault-christina-hoff-sommers/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/13/blurred-lines-most-controversial-song-decade
https://reason.com/tag/trafficking/

The most prominent critics of the "campus rape crisis" narrative are conservatives & libertarian pundits writing for news outlets like National Review and Reason. They typically agree that activists on the political left are using the "rape crisis" as a pretext for their political agenda, but they differ on what they think the solution should be. Conservative pundits tend to ascribe a bit more credence to the idea that a rise in sexual assaults could be happening but argue that cracking down on "binge drinking" and "hookup culture" is the solution, and they tend to put the onus for this on young women who they argue need to be less promiscuous & more careful. Libertarian pundits, on the other hand, tend to think the statistics on campus sexual assaults are vastly inflated, and they argue that students have the right to drink alcohol & engage in casual sex if that's what they want. Libertarian pundits typically offer environmental solutions like allowing sorority houses to host parties so they can control flow of alcohol, lowering the drinking age to 18 so that younger college students don't have to drink surreptitiously in unsupervised house parties, and legalizing marijuana to allow an alternative to alcohol that's less likely to create an aggressive atmosphere at parties.

Conversely, many feminist activists & left-leaning social scientists are afraid that sexual assaults are increasing on college campuses and that administrators aren't doing enough to catch & punish the perpetrators. They tend to see the real moral panic to be the concerns of conservative & libertarian pundits about a supposed wave of false rape accusations & campus tribunals that function as "kangaroo courts". Pundits & scholars on the political left tend to see their right-wing critics as "rape apologists" and "concern trolls" who want to preserve the patriarchy, "male privilege", "toxic masculinity" and "rape culture". They tend to see rape & sexual assault as a product of a corrupt culture that privileges men's access to sex over women's bodily autonomy, and they typically suggest a mix of sexual education, public shaming, campus disciplinary reform, and a sea change in our criminal justice system as the ultimate solution.

In this meetup, we'll do our best to get past the rhetoric and the hype and look at the what the available research can tell us about the realities of sexual assault on college campuses.

RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:

The partisan split in the assessment of what's really happening on college campuses is reminiscent of an earlier discussion we had in 2018 entitled "Free Speech & Hate Speech on Campus". We discussed how in the mid-to-late 2010s conservatives tended to complain about a "free speech crisis" on college campuses due to left-wing student activists shouting down conservative speakers & getting college professors that disagreed with them fired, whereas progressives tend to argue that these complaints were just a distraction from the real crisis on college campuses, which was a rise in hate speech & racist incidents that began shortly after Trump's election.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/250590144/

We've also had several previous meetups that addressed misconceptions about rape & sexual assault...

Back in May of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "The Campus Rape Crisis & Sex Trafficking" where we discussed why some skeptics think the media's focus on the role of "date rape drugs" in campus assault cases is misplaced, how & why the news media gets some high-profile college rape cases wrong (e.g. the Duke lacrosse case in 2006, the Rolling Stone article about a UVA fraternity in 2014, the Hunting Ground documentary film in 2015), how "Missing White Girl Syndrome" leads the media to neglect the plight of women of color & men/boys who've gone missing, and how the media perpetuates myths about sex trafficking.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/248995893/

We had another meetup later in May entitled "Sex Abuse Scandals, Pedo Panics & Conspiracy Theories" where we discussed the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals & how they compare with other religious organizations, why Skeptic magazine printed an article that doubted the claims against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and how the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory seemed plausible to many people due to real sex scandals involving underage victims & politicians (e.g. Dennis Hastert, Anthony Weiner, Jeffrey Epstein's social circle).
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/251067305/

In December of 2018, we discussed the sexual assault allegation that Christine Blakey-Ford made against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and we used a Bayesian algorithm to evaluate the plausibility of the claims based on what we know in general about stats on sexual assault & false reports, lie detection, blackouts & false memories, as well as probabilistic fallacies like the prosecutor's fallacy and defense attorney's fallacy.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/lckqkqyxqbdb/

In July of 2019, we had a meetup entitled "Debunking 'Cyber-Sex Panics'" where we looked at some of the misconceptions people have about the influence of the internet on the incidence of sex crimes. While some people believe that the proliferation of internet porn must've incited more people to commit sexual assault, crime stats suggest that it may have actually been one of the causes of the decline in sexual assault rates since the 1990s. Similarly, while many people consider online dating more dangerous than traditional dating, statistics suggest that it's no more dangerous. Children also don't appear to be at a particularly high risk from sexual predators when they go online, despite the fears of many parents. Lastly, we discussed how the recent media focus on the online "incel" subculture (i.e. involuntary celibate males) calls out some misogynistic & violent comments in their forums but also includes elements of a "moral panic" similar to what we've previously seen around stigmatized youth subcultures like metalheads, goths & emo kids.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/rgrhxqyzkbsb/

Also in July of 2019, the Philly Political Agnostics had a meetup that looked at the debates about more general social problems surrounding the ubiquity of internet porn, the rise of online dating, teen internet use & sexting, and the alleged "sex recession" among Millennials. They also addressed the political debates about whether the government should try to legislate sexual morality, even in cases where no crime has occurred, simply to stabilize society and incentivize marriage & child-rearing. https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/txqhxqyzkbsb/

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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 some of the major debates over the incidence of rape & sexual assault on college campuses. 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 44 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 ON THE PREVALENCE OF CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULTS:

  • ARE STUDENT SURVEYS THAT INDICATE 1-IN-4 OR 1-IN-5 WOMEN WILL BE RAPED OR SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN COLLEGE ACCURATE, OR DO THEY SUFFER FROM "NON-RESPONSE BIAS" (I.E. NON-VICTIMS ARE LESS LIKELY RETURN THE SURVEY)? DO THEY EQUATE "UNWANTED KISSING OR TOUCHING" WITH "SEXUAL ASSAULT" OR EQUATE "DRUNK SEX" WITH "RAPE"? IS THE CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT RATE MORE LIKE 1-IN-40, AS CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS CLAIMS?

  • ARE COLLEGE STUDENTS MORE LIKELY TO BE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED THAN NON-STUDENTS THEIR AGE?

  • HAVE RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT BEEN INCREASING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES IN RECENT YEARS, OR IS THIS MERELY AN APPARENT RISE DUE TO INCREASED AWARENESS OF THE EXISTING PROBLEM?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT THE COLLEGE STUDENTS MOST AT THE RISK OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ARE FRESHMEN DURING THE "RED ZONE" - I.E. FIRST 2-3 MONTHS OF COLLEGE?

  • ARE FRATERNITY MEMBERS & STUDENT ATHLETES OVERREPRESENTED AMONG CAMPUS PERPETRATORS OF RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT?

  • HOW ACCURATE ARE DAVID LISAK'S STUDY THAT SHOWED 6% OF COLLEGE MEN ADMITTED TO "NON-CONSENSUAL SEX" & KEVIN SWARTOUT'S STUDY THAT SHOWED A HIGHER NUMBER OF ~11%?

1a) Christina Hoff Sommers, "Campus sexual assault: Bad statistics don't help victims" (video - 3:50 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5XMuTAomNk

1b) Christina Hoff Sommers, "Sexual assault myths: Part 2" (video - 5:10 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq3Ju_sI_Ew

1c) LipTV, "Can Banning Fraternities Really Stop Rape?" (video - 3:26 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_KPvO8E7ts

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II. STUDENT DRINKING CULTURE & HOW IT MAKES ASSESSING CONSENT & MEMORY IN ACQUAINTANCE RAPE CASES DIFFICULT:

  • WHAT PERCENTAGE OF RAPES & SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES INVOLVE ALCOHOL?

  • DO DRINKING LOCATIONS - SPECIFICALLY OFF-CAMPUS PARTIES VS ON-CAMPUS PARTIES - PLAY A BIGGER ROLE IN SEXUAL ASSAULT THAN JUST THE DRINKING ITSELF? IF SO, COULD THIS BE RELATED TO THE "COUPLING" PHENOMENON MALCOLM GLADWELL DISCUSSES IN HIS BOOK TALKING TO STRANGERS?

  • DO MANY STUDIES OF CAMPUS RAPE EQUATE CONSENSUAL DRUNK SEX WITH RAPING AN UNCONSCIOUS VICTIM?

  • DOES THE SUNY BUFFALO STUDY THAT INDICATED 17.6% OF COLLEGE MEN ADMITTED COMMITTING "SEXUAL AGGRESSION" WHILE DRINKING EQUATE "FORCED SEX" WITH "UNWANTED CONTACT"?

  • DOES RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA POSE A SIMILAR PROBLEM AS ALCOHOL, OR DOES IT DECREASE SEXUAL AGGRESSION? DO CAMPUSES IN STATES WITH LEGAL MARIJUANA SHOW ANY CHANGE IN SEXUAL ASSAULT RATES?

  • HOW MANY CASES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT INVOLVE "DATE RAPE DRUGS" (E.G. GHB, ROHYPNOL)? COULD STUDENTS OVERESTIMATE THEIR PREVALENCE DUE TO MISIDENTIFYING ALCOHOL-INDUCED BLACKOUTS AS CASES OF BEING "ROOFIED"?

  • COULD "CAUTIONARY TALES" ABOUT DATE RAPE DRUGS, EVEN IF OVERBLOWN, MOTIVATE YOUNG PEOPLE TO ENGAGE IN BENEFICIAL BEHAVIORS LIKE DRINKING LESS AND/OR WATCHING OUT FOR FRIENDS WHO APPEAR TO BE TOO INTOXICATED? OR DO FEARS OF DATE RAPE DRUGS DISPLACE MORE GROUNDED CONCERNS ABOUT BINGE DRINKING, LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE TO THINK THEY CAN DRINK AS MUCH ALCOHOL AS THEY WANT AS LONG AS THEY ENSURE THEIR DRINK DOESN'T GET "SPIKED"?

  • WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "BLACKING OUT" & "PASSING OUT" FROM ALCOHOL? IN THE FORMER CASE, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT PEOPLE COULD CONSENT TO SEX BUT NOT REMEMBER?

  • HOW DOES ALCOHOL & ADRENALINE INTERACT TO AFFECT A VICTIM'S MEMORY IN A CASE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT? IS IT LIKELY THAT THE VICTIM WILL REMEMBER WHO ASSAULTED THEM BUT NOT MUCH ELSE?

2a) WKBW TV w/ Sherri Darrow, "[SUNY Buffalo] Study finds drinking locations linked to sexual assault" (video - 2:14 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afCkgcNRGVs

2b) Caroline Kitchens, "Date rape drugs: Facts vs. myths explained" (video - 5:19 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu90VKEa2xk

2c) Newsy, "Is There A Link Between College Football Game Days And Rape?" (video - 1:14 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGcEUp1GpNs

2d) Jim Hopper, "Sexual Assault, Intoxication & Memory" (video - 3:26 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9gaITxFsjs

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III. THE DEBATES OVER "HOOKUP CULTURE", AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT & BYSTANDER INTERVENTION TRAINING, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CAMPUS SEXUAL NORMS:

  • IS COLLEGE "HOOKUP CULTURE" MOSTLY LIMITED TO GREEK LIFE AT BIG STATE UNIVERSITIES, OR DOES A PARTY SCENE WITH HOOKUPS INEVITABLY DEVELOP AT ALL RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES?

  • WHAT PORTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE ENGAGED IN "HOOKUP CULTURE" - I.E. THEY'RE SEXUALLY ACTIVE BUT DON'T HAVE A SIGNIFICANT OTHERS? DOES IT USUALLY INVOLVE "ONE NIGHT STANDS" WITH DIFFERENT PARTNERS OR "FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS" & POLYAMORY?

  • IS "HOOKUP CULTURE" MOSTLY A RESULT OF A SHIFT IN SOCIAL NORMS AWAY FROM TRADITIONAL DATING & TOWARDS CASUAL SEX? OR IS IT MORE A PRODUCT OF UNEQUAL GENDER RATIONS AT COLLEGES THAT FORCE WOMEN TO COMPETE FOR MEN USING CASUAL SEX, AS JON BIRGER ARGUES?

  • ARE MOST SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON CAMPUS A PRODUCT OF HOOKUP CULTURE & BINGE DRINKING LEADING PSYCHOLOGICALLY "NORMAL" MALES TO HAVE SEX WITH WOMEN WHEN CONSENT ISN'T CLEAR, AS "AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT" PROGRAMS IMPLY? OR ARE MOST CASES COMMITTED BY PREDATORIAL SERIAL RAPISTS, AS DAVID LISAK ARGUES? IF IT'S THE LATTER, DO SEXUAL PREDATORS USE DRINKING & HOOKUP CULTURE FOR "CAMOUFLAGE", AS LISA WADE SUGGESTS?

  • ARE THERE STUDIES THAT SUGGEST THE "AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT" TRAINING PROGRAMS BEING ADOPTED BY MANY COLLEGE CAN REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT? IF NOT, DOES THE BENEFICIAL RESULTS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOL SEX ED CLASSES (I.E. LOWERED TEEN PREGNANCY RATES) SUGGEST IT WILL PROBABLY WORK, OR ARE THESE COLLEGE SEMINARS MORE AKIN TO THE CORPORATE SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN NOT TO WORK?

  • ARE THERE STUDIES THAT SUGGEST "BYSTANDER INTERVENTION TRAINING" CAN REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT? IS BYSTANDER INTERVENTION MORE PLAUSIBLE NOW THAT STUDIES SHOW THE "BYSTANDER EFFECT" WAS OVERSTATED, OR ARE AN ACQUAINTANCE RAPIST'S ATTEMPT TO ISOLATE THEIR VICTIM USUALLY TOO AMBIGUOUS TO RELY ON BYSTANDER INTERVENTION?

  • IS BYSTANDER INTERVENTION PLAGUED BY RACIAL BIASES, SO THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE HELPED BY WHITE PEERS? DOES THE TENDENCY OF COLLEGE WOMEN TO "SLUT-SHAME" LOWER CLASS PEERS SUGGEST THERE MIGHT ALSO BE CLASSIST BIASES THAT PREVENT INTERVENTION?

3a) NY Mag, "Is 'Hook-Up Culture Real?" (video - 2:31 min.)
https://youtu.be/PtQx-rhsnJU

3b) Lauren Chen, "'Sex Training' Mandatory at USC for 'Affirmative Consent'" (video - 13:07 min, start at 5:52)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvB7_6jwABE&t=5m52s

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IV. THE "PERFECT VICTIM MYTH", FALSE MEMORIES VS FALSE ACCUSATIONS, AND THE DEBATE OVER WHETHER FEAR OF FALSE RAPE ALLEGATIONS ARE A MORAL PANIC:

  • WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED REPORTING RATE FOR CASES OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT, WHEN WE COMPARE VICTIM SURVEYS TO POLICE RECORDS?

  • HOW COMMON ARE FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT, ACCORDING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT STATS? IS THERE A GREY AREA DUE TO ALLEGATIONS THAT WEREN'T SUBSTANTIATED BUT ALSO WEREN'T DISPROVEN?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT AN "ILLUSION OF CONTROL BIAS" &
    "SYSTEM JUSTIFICATION" (A.K.A. JUST-WORLD HYPOTHESIS) MAY CAUSE PEOPLE TO OVEREMPHASIZE THE ROLE OF A PERSON'S BEHAVIOR IN DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT THEY BECOMES THE VICTIM OF SEXUAL ASSAULT? COULD THIS ALSO LEAD TO "VICTIM-BLAMING" & SUSPICIONS OF A FALSE ACCUSATION IF A PERSON REPORTING A SEXUAL ASSAULT DOESN'T FIT THE STEREOTYPE OF A "PERFECT VICTIM" -- I.E. SOBER & CONSERVATIVELY DRESSED AT THE TIME OF THE ASSAULT, NOT ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH THE PERPETRATOR, AND VISIBLY DISTRAUGHT WHILE REPORTING IT TO POLICE IMMEDIATELY AFTER?

  • ARE DELAYED MEMORIES OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT COMMON DUE TO TRAUMATIC REPRESSION (A.K.A. DISSOCIATIVE AMNESIA)? IF SO, CAN COUNSELORS HELP VICTIMS REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED, OR DOES THIS POSE A RISK OF CREATING FALSE MEMORIES THAT LEAD TO FALSE ACCUSATIONS LIKE THE "RECOVERED MEMORY THERAPY" USED DURING THE "SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE" CASES OF THE 1980s?

  • DO PEOPLE WHO MAKE FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT TEND TO FIT A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE? IF NOT, ARE FALSE ACCUSATIONS MORE THE RESULT OF CERTAIN SITUATIONS THAT PROVOKE EMBARRASSMENT & REGRET (E.G. INFIDELITY, SLUT-SHAMING, UNWANTED PREGNANCY, REJECTION, ETC.)?

  • DOES DELAYED REPORTING OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT INCREASE THE CHANCES THAT THE COMPLAINANT IS MAKING A FALSE ACCUSATION, OR IS THIS NORMAL BECAUSE IT OFTEN TAKES TIME FOR A VICTIM TO WORK UP THE COURAGE TO CONTACT THE AUTHORITIES? WHAT ABOUT CASES WHERE THE COMPLAINANT WAS FRIENDLY WITH THEIR ALLEGED ATTACKER FOR SEVERAL WEEKS OR MONTHS BEFORE MAKING THE ACCUSATION?

  • WHY MIGHT BLACK MALE STUDENTS (6% OF UNDERGRADS) BE OVERREPRESENTED AMONG THOSE ACCUSED OF RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT? COULD THIS BE THE RESULT OF RACIAL BIAS BY ACCUSERS AND/OR CAMPUS POLICE?

  • DOES THE INCREASE IN TITLE IX LAWSUITS AGAINST COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES IN THE LATER 2010s INDICATE PROGRESS BECAUSE SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS ARE SUING THEIR SCHOOLS FOR NOT PROTECTING THEM? OR DOES IT INDICATE SCHOOLS MAY HAVE DEVIATED TOO FAR FROM DUE PROCESS, LEAVING THEMSELVES OPEN TO SUITS BY PEOPLE WHO WERE FALSELY ACCUSED?

4a) ABC News, "Rape graphic [from the Enliven Project] goes viral with surprising statistic on false rape accusations" (video - 1:56 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf3Z1poOK7s

4b) Seamus Coughlin, "Only 2% Of Rape Accusations Are False?" (video - 3:14 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8zSDvaYrRw

4c) Jackie Fuchs, "Victim blaming and the 'just world' fallacy" (video - 2:23 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfCOLKv6fc

4d) BBC w/ Vanessa Grigoriandis & Jim Hopper, "Why people can take years to report sexual assaults" (vide - 2:30 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t7Sj2k1CK4

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Events in Philadelphia, PA
Photo of Skeptics In The Pub - Philly group
Skeptics In The Pub - Philly
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Skeptics In The Pub - Philly
Photo of Skeptics In The Pub - Philly group
Cafe Walnut
703 Walnut Street · Philadelphia, PA
Photo of Skeptics In The Pub - Philly group
Skeptics In The Pub - Philly
public group