More on Bogus Statistics on Campus Date Rape
We have, with some frequency, discussed the fact that feminist activists produce radically inflated and completely bogus statistics about the number of college women who fall victim to date rape.
Indeed, we were once charged with sexual harassment for telling a class of ours this. (The complaint was dismissed by Marquette, and we continue to say exactly the same thing in all our classes where the fact is relevant.)
The number usually bandied around is that 20 or 25 percent of college women are victims of date rape. Sometimes it’s not “rape” but “rape or attempted rape” or sometimes merely “sexual assault.” But the usual tactic is to scare women with inflated statistics.
Of course, this also serves the feminist agenda of demonizing men.
But what happens when the Department of Justice, and not feminist university professors, ask about rape? And what happens when their concern is not just with rape, but with all violent crime?
The numbers come back vastly lower.
Consider the following table, taken from an official report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (you’ll need to click on the image to see it clearly):
You’ll see that the incidence of rape among college women is 6.0 cases per thousand students. That’s .60 percent per year. Multiply that by four years in college and you have between two and three percent.
But then you have the fact that this is not merely rape, but rape and sexual assault. How is this defined?
Even ignoring this, there is no way to get to the 20 to 25 percent figure bandied around by feminist activists.
Note that the Bureau of Justice Statistics numbers are derived from a victimization survey, and are in no way dependent on the victim having reported the crime to the police.
So the things that politically correct faculty, and politically correct administrators, tell students about the incidence of rape are simply untrue. They serve the ideological interests of feminists, and the career interests of campus bureaucrats. But they are lies.
Indeed, we were once charged with sexual harassment for telling a class of ours this. (The complaint was dismissed by Marquette, and we continue to say exactly the same thing in all our classes where the fact is relevant.)
The number usually bandied around is that 20 or 25 percent of college women are victims of date rape. Sometimes it’s not “rape” but “rape or attempted rape” or sometimes merely “sexual assault.” But the usual tactic is to scare women with inflated statistics.
Of course, this also serves the feminist agenda of demonizing men.
But what happens when the Department of Justice, and not feminist university professors, ask about rape? And what happens when their concern is not just with rape, but with all violent crime?
The numbers come back vastly lower.
Consider the following table, taken from an official report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (you’ll need to click on the image to see it clearly):
But then you have the fact that this is not merely rape, but rape and sexual assault. How is this defined?
Rape/sexual assaultIn other words, a lot of things that are gross and vulgar, but are vastly less serious than rape (because they are vastly less psychologically damaging to the victim) count as sexual assault.
This category includes forced sexual intercourse including psychological coercion as well as physical force.
Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object. It includes attempted rapes, male as well as female victims and both heterosexual and homosexual rape. Attempted rape includes verbal threats of rape.
Sexual assault is also included in this category which includes a wide range of victimizations, separate from rape or attempted rape. These crimes include attacks or attempted attacks generally involving unwanted sexual contact between victim and offender. Sexual assaults may or may not involve force and include such things as grabbing or fondling. Sexual assault also includes verbal threats.
Even ignoring this, there is no way to get to the 20 to 25 percent figure bandied around by feminist activists.
Note that the Bureau of Justice Statistics numbers are derived from a victimization survey, and are in no way dependent on the victim having reported the crime to the police.
So the things that politically correct faculty, and politically correct administrators, tell students about the incidence of rape are simply untrue. They serve the ideological interests of feminists, and the career interests of campus bureaucrats. But they are lies.
Labels: Bogus statistics, Date Rape, Feminism, Feminists, Marquette University, Political Correctness, Rape
posted by John McAdams at 4:09 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks for your steadfastness in getting this type of information out against the unending "assaults" by your university, your so-called professional peers and even your students. We desperately need more voices like yours.
Unfortunately, those who would lie to us by inflating the numbers and incidences are winning. One need look no further than the re-election of Barack Obama and the rise of the ultimate narcissist, Sandra Fluke.
Fluke was just nominated "Object of the Year" by Time Magazine. ("Object" because Time once named a computer to be "Person of the Year".) I think Fluke is the perfect nominee and ulitmate best choice for "Object of the Year". Fluke perfectly represents the reshaping of the United States that has take place over the last four years. Selfish, over-indulged, narcissitic and immoral. She's even "cheap" since she can afford a $30,000 a year tuition but wants other people to pay the $9.00 per month that her birth control costs. Perfect.
Thanks again for your bravery in "speaking truth to power".
Such claims are not credible until such time as they result in a conviction of some crime (Even only Disorderly Conduct) in a court of law.
This is what we need more of in the world: privileged males who are born into positions of power using their sexist worldview to trivialize the plights of women so no attention will be afforded to their issues and thus no assistance will be hired.
men like you will retain your dominance over women and will keep spouting off your nonsensical misogynistic and oppressive ideologies.
Of course, from your privileged male perspective,
Don't you understand that rhetoric like this makes you sound like some sort of politically correct yahoo?
I am fine if you want to get technical and use the term “physical assault” instead of rape. In doing so, the issue of sexual violence does not become any less important and disgusting.
But it is less imporant. A guy trying to put his hand somewhere he shouldn't is not doing anything nearly as evil as a guy who rapes a girl.
So don't lie. Don't say rape when you mean "sexual assault."
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