Word: sexualism
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...Putting aside issues of racial tensions and town-gown relations, the incident at Duke (or, in a sense, the lack of an incident) says a lot about the sensationalizing of sexual assault cases today. So many facets of society have become so hypersensitive to such matters that we seem to be losing our ability to discern between legitimate issues of sexual violence and overblown or exaggerated circumstances. To be sure, crimes of sexual assault such as rape are very serious matters. But so too is an accusation of rape...
...We’d do well to keep that in mind at Harvard this week, as the annual Take Back the Night events kick off. Take Back the Night, which began in the seventies, consists of candlelight vigils, rallies, and informational events aimed at promoting awareness of sexual crimes. This all sounds fine enough—preventing sexual violence is a laudable goal. The trouble is that much of the dialogue of events such as Take Back the Night ignores the fact that in many cases, preventing sexual violence hinges on sexual responsibility...
...Likely much of what will occur at Take Back the Night will involve citing statistics about the prevalence of rape. For instance, younger women are victims of sexual violence at higher rates than older women. Supposedly only one in five rapes is reported to police. And a favorite statistic: 80 percent of rape victims suffer at the hands of someone they know...
...This extremely high number seems questionable, highlighting a problem in how we talk about sexual violence. I am willing to believe that there are significantly negative circumstances surrounding all of these incidents, but I am dubious that all of these actually constituted rape. Morning-after guilt and regrets can give way to overblown cries of violation or abuse. Sexual communication is often difficult, so in the moment that a line has been crossed, the line is not always altogether clear...
...Relationship tensions distinct from sex, too, can play a part in reports of sexual violence—an impulse to punish someone for some grievance, for instance. When alcohol is involved—as it is in many reported acts of sexual violence—both involved parties may be unable to draw appropriate lines. In those situations, the “Yes, keep going” in the middle of the night, for instance, may be transformed into feelings of violation. These situations constitute bad sexual decision-making, not necessarily acts of sexual assault...