The call to ‘believe’ victims is reminiscent of Salem. It is not a question of naively ‘believing’ or ‘disbelieving’ those who claim to be victims of sexual assault; it is a matter of ascertaining fact. For the sake of justice, we need to be sceptical of those who make allegations, and provide the accused with due process. In contrast, supporters of the rape-culture myth interpret any search for truth as a betrayal of the accuser, which is a truly medieval approach.
Ironically, those who promote the idea that rape is everywhere do not take rape seriously enough. They ignore that an accusation of rape is a very serious charge, which requires fact (indeed, questioning of the accuser shows that it is being taken seriously). They seek to have the alleged perpetrators kicked off campus, but, if they really are guilty of such a heinous crime, they should be sent away to prison and thus prevented from harming others. And they overlook how expulsion from college for reasons of rape can ruin someone’s reputation and career.
Feminist activists are not the only ones who are doubling down in the aftermath of the Rolling Stone mess: so, too, are the administrators. In response to the article’s initial publication, UVA president Teresa Sullivan referred to sexual violence on campus as an ‘evil’, and banned activities by all fraternities (talk about collective guilt). And now that the story has collapsed… UVA is still continuing on the same path of bureaucratic review, and there has been no sign of lifting the outrageous ban on fraternities.
As these responses show, the ‘rape epidemic’ has become an article of faith.
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