Background: I discussed the recent controversy over the feminist "1 in 4 college women are raped" myth, see my recent blog post 'It’s a lonely job, working the phones at a college rape crisis center...you wait for the casualties to show up but no one calls'. I noted that "the ladies at www.Feministing.com have responded with boiling rage and obscenities, without attempting to factually critique Mac Donald's research and arguments. The Feministing blog post is LA Times: What rape crisis?"
Below is a blog comment on www.feministing.com by Ophelia Blake, a woman who identifies herself as a leader of a college Women's Resource Center. The WRCs are feminist-run centers designed to help college women who have been raped or assaulted, or who are having a variety of other problems. Ophelia wrote:
"When I was in college, I was on the board of the Women's Resource Center, and I am, of course, a feminist. But one thing I didn't agree with the WRC about was its annual 'Take Back the Night' program proclaiming the victimhood of women. Mac Donald is correct on this account:
"'Campus rape ideology holds that inebriation strips women of responsibility for their actions but preserves male responsibility not only for their own actions but for their partners’ as well. Thus do men again become the guardians of female well-being.'
"It's a very '50s mentality. Considering that the boy in the scenario the Harvard rape victim described was probably just as drunk as she was, what makes him the rapist and her the victim? The problem with the campus rape mentality is that it holds up the Laura-Session-Step idea that sex damages women. Calling it 'rape' is not empowering, it does in fact 'strip women of moral agency,' as Mac Donald said.
"Mac Donald's argument is that if one in four college women were in fact raped, then there would be a national crisis of the kind that demanded action, not just lip service from campus protest organizations. It takes a lot of doublethink to say the fact that so few rapes are reported is evidence for how many there really are...
"Saying that any woman who has had sex and can't remember was raped paints a picture of women as passive creatures who are acted upon. The guy might not remember what happened either, but no one would ever suggest she raped him, even if she initiated the sex."
One might think that Ophelia, being a feminist who had been part of the women's movement and feminist rape prevention efforts would get a little respect from the readers of Feministing. Apparently not. My favorite response was this gem from "Sera":
"Reason #500,000,000,000,000etc that Ophelia Blake is a fucking idiot...I hate you passionately now."
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Roger60601 said,
March 1, 2008 at 12:55 pm
amfortas said,
Her anecdote then goes on to show her objecting to a clear feminist position. She argues the case clearly. I have no doubt that if she can find one objectionable position she could as easily find a host of others, even within the narrow category of female responsibility, let alone the myriad double-standards that feminists advocate.
So why is she ‘of course’ a feminist? A moment’s reflection on the ramifications of her own arguements would inevitably lead her to extensions of principle and impacts on wider life issues, shirley?
It seems that feminists are taking on the attributes of many ‘religious’ people who cherry-pick the bits they like to believe and criticise ot ignore other bits, while continuing to call themselves believers. It is a thin adherence that she has but the very fact of the adherence encourages others into the maw of the beast.
She describes what she calls ”Campus rape ideology”, as though such perversion of thought is confined to that segment of women’s endeavour. It permeates the whole of feminsim ‘of course’. This confinement is another shadow of her cherry-picking mindset.
I wonder how she deals with Hitler and train timetables. I can hear her saying, “I was in the SS and of course a Nazi”, then going on to say things about Jews being passable shopkeepers who should not be blamed for shoplifters.
March 1, 2008 at 7:20 pm