For Tuesday:
Yoffe, “The College Rape Overcorrection” (pp.75-110)
DEFINITIONS: Look
up any words you don’t know, especially if they seem important to the
essay—we’ll discuss some in class on Tuesday.
Answer TWO of the
following:
Q1: What does
Yoffe mean when she writes, “At Ohio State University, two young people who
want to engage in sexual congress might be well advised to first consult with
the philosophy department and the law school” (100-101)? Why might the age of
consensual relationships be on its last legs in college?
Q2: Yoffe has been
widely criticized for this article and others like it, as her detractors have
“denounced [her] for “victim blaming”...a student organization that had invited
me decided my presence would make student victims “feel unsafe” (103). Is Yoffe
critical of women who report rape on student campuses and/or blaming these same
women for bringing the crime on themselves? Why or why not?
Q3: In a major
study of rapes on college campuses, the conclusions determine that “young
American college women are raped at a rate similar to women in Congo
Q4: According to
Yoffe, alcohol is the ‘elephant in the room’ in any discussion about the
college rape epidemic—but it’s the last thing anyone talks about. Why is this?
Why is the role of college drinking underplayed by college administrators, and
why does Yoffe think alcohol—even more than serial rapists—are to blame for
growing reports of sexual assault on campus?
Q2. Obviously Yoffe is not blaming the women in the world that are actually getting raped. She is only bringing light onto the subject of what rape actually is. Yoffe may be critical in this article, but she should be. Just because a female college student regretted the consensual decision she made the night before, does not mean she can put the blame off onto the male and ruin the rest of his life. Rape is a serious offense, and it is not something you blame on someone else because you are humiliated by your decision.
ReplyDeleteQ3. Constructing a survey of only a few college campuses does not give enough viable information to say that "young American college women are raped at a rate similar to women in Congo, where rape has been used as a weapon of war." That is an outrageous statement to be made with very little facts to back it up. We often pause at this assertion often because we believe anything and almost everything we read on the internet. So many colleges are forced to take it to face value because otherwise they can be fined or even shut down if they do not handle the situation "properly."
David Brooks
ReplyDeleteQ2: She's not being critical on people that have been raped rather than she is pointing out what rape is and can do to someones mentality. Its a life changing event that can ruins both of the parties involved.
Q4: Alcohol is kind of a taboo topic when it comes to talking about things like rape. On college, people are taught that in order to give consent, both parties have to be sober and if one isnt sober it can be considered rape.
Q2. I believe that Yoffe is not victim blaming. I believe that she is just telling people something that they do not want to hear. Just because a woman regrets her decisions from the night before does not mean that she has the right to sit back and blame the man. They both were apart of the shenanigans. It is not the mans fault for acting upon her actions. Rape is serious and should not be taken lightly. I understand that women do not always make the best choices while they are under the influence, but at the same time you can not blame the man. He did not make you drink excessive amounts of alcohol and he also did not make you seduce him. Do not yell rape if it is just a bad decision that you are embarrassed of.
ReplyDeleteQ4. I think that drinking in college is underplayed because while the woman is under the influence, she is not in the right state of mind to make the right choices. When she wakes up the next day she yells rape when she could have very well consented during that time. I believe that this is why Yoffe feels that alcohol is to blame for growing rates of sexual assault on campus. Although there are awful people that rape women on a every day basis, some drunk guys are not meaning to "rape" a woman. They very well may be consented to the drunken woman just may not remember it the next day. By humiliation, she turns the man in for raping her. This is why women should know their limit and not consume excessive amounts of alcohol. They should be able to know what they are doing and remember every detail from the night before. That way they are not turning a man in for something that they consented to.
Q2: In Yoffe’s essay, she NEVER comes out and says that it is a victim’s fault when he/she is sexually assaulted. Yoffe is simply raising the argument that the “assaulters” are often denied their right to due process. When someone is raped, it is by NO MEANS their fault. But the problem is, we can’t just take everybody’s word when they yell rape. Because sexual assault has become so common, anytime it is mentioned, it is better for us to just trust that it happened rather than investigating it. Its harsh to say, but, sometimes we HAVE to be critical of the “victims”.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I think the reason why intoxication isn’t widely accepted as a defense in rape allegations is the fact that it should hold no weight in a court of law. I have been belligerently drunk on various occasions but I still had morals. I don’t believe that current state of mind effects who a person is. (this excludes mental illness). When a person is drunk, they don’t just decide that rape or murder is okay. There isn’t something in the brain that just dies. Yes, bad decisions are made and you may regret things in the morning, but these things should never be the fact that you raped someone.
Constitute: Be (a part) of a whole. V
Emily Nelson
ReplyDeleteQ1: shes basically saying that they need to consult with them so they ( the Participant/participantes) understand what they are or are not agreeing to do in the said relationship. They need to have an understanding on what rape is and anything else that could possibly come back and ruin there future.It could be on its last leg because everything is going to have to be documented to ensure that everyone is in said relationship has a mutual understanding of the dos and donts of what is and isn't allowed.
Q4: Alcohol is the elephant in the room because it could turn something into nothing or nothing into something. It's one of those thing that makes a grey area even grayer.It's underplayed because its a known fact that kids go to college and drink. Maybe not all kids but a vast majority. This is because they have a new type of freedom. Alcohol is probably more to blame because when your drunk you can make the argument that you didnt know what you were doing. You're a completely diffrent person sober, but when you drink you turn into a rapist. So its hard for someone to convict you when you did something while you were drunk. The sexual assaults are probably growing because more and more young adults are still drinking with there new found freedom. No one is being anymore cautious they just think they understand what could happen until it actually happens.
Cameron Corbin “The College Rape Overcorrection”
ReplyDelete1. Yoffe mean’s that two young people engaging in sexual activity need to know the now ridiculous guidelines that fall under “sexual protection.” As stated in the title, colleges have overcorrected the rape problem in such a way that one day it might be nearly impossible to have a consensual relationship in college. Even in the present day, rape has been so broadly defined that it has presented a completely different set of problems than the last generation had to deal with from a legal standpoint.
3. The statement about American college women feeling like women in the Congo is an overstatement of massive proportions. It is not true or accurate, it is simply ghastly; I have yet to meet a woman in my college experience who is afraid to simply walk out the door because of the possibility of being raped. I would argue that even among American college aged women who have been raped, the fear of rape was but an afterthought in their mind before the hideous act happened to themselves. So many colleges take this at face value though because the surveys that tell us this are the surveys the federal government wants to deem true, and as a result these are the surveys universities have deemed true.
1) Yoffe is stating that the young couple needs to know all the strings attached to having a sexual relationship in college. There are many guidelines now set by the school and the government on "consent" that the couple needs to get to know before they potentially ruin their futures.
ReplyDelete2) Yoffe is talking about how the victim can just regret a drunken consensual sex with a friend and yell "rape" the next day. She is stating that assaulters are denied their due process rights. She never comes out and says it is the victims fault directly, but she is a bit biased.
Q2. I don't think she's really being critical she's just stating what she thinks, and she has a good point. Some women bring it on by themselves. I mean look at the way some women dress. Men are full of testosterone and need to control themselves. But some of the clothing women wear don't help. The short shorts and crop tops send off messages that encourage sexual actions. Some women want to wear revealing things but say it's all the guys fault. In some cases it isn't the women, maybe they did get raped. But just as Yoffe states in her article that "It's so much easier to be a victim than to admit culpability...It's much easier to say it's all his fault." (103) Sometimes the women are raped, but other times they'd rather play the blame game, and pass it off to someone else.
ReplyDeleteQ4. I think alcohol isn't a huge deal because they are of age and how do you really patrol something like that? For one if you tell them to not drink they probably aren't going to listen and two you won't be able to stop every bottle from being in the hands of some student. It just doesn't seem possible. People aren't in their right mind when intoxicated, they think they can do anything. But what about a sexual account when you both are drunk. who is to blame? If one of you is sober while the other is drunk, someone's taken advantage.