Assigning blame explains nothing about why it is happening.
Rape is a conscious choice made by men. Suggesting that the rise of sexual assault and/or sex scandals on college campuses is caused by the women outnumbering men and to propose, as Mrs. Schlafly did, to decrease the number of women on campuses (thereby limiting the opportunities of young women) is blaming the women. If Mrs. Schlafly didn’t intend it that way it’s much worse, in my opinion, because then her suggestion is simply to punish women for the misdeeds of the men.
austinmshari,
Do you think there has been an increase in the numbers of campus sexual assaults? If so, why do you think it is happening?
I work in broadcasting, so my first thought whenever I see a story about an increase in something is to ask if there’s been an actual increase in events or just an increase in the number of reports. Women didn’t necessarily report sexual assaults in the past because they were blamed (questioned about what they’d been doing, what they’d been wearing, etc.), so it’s difficult to determine whether there are more assaults taking place or more women coming forward to report them when they happen. Media coverage can alter public perception too. I grew up when we didn’t have 24/7 access to news (stations shut down at midnight), the news we did get was from yesterday’s AP (not the nearly instantaneous reports we get now), and it was mostly national with a few regional and some local stories thrown in, so there may not be more assaults occurring, we may just be more aware of them because of the nature of our news delivery. In any case, limiting women’s access to a college education is a disservice to the young women who will be applying as well as to the women who worked hard to give them the right to be there in the first place.
Schafly’s approach is a ridiculously simplistic solution to a very complex problem. I am going to be charitable and attribute it to her advanced age. While I know she is a staunch social and political conservative is it just mind boggling that such a statement could come from an educated woman.
If there are more women than men on campus, and men like the hookup culture but women would prefer a different relationship model, then your argument explains the hookup culture-- she doesn’t like the hookup culture but it’s better than having no guy at all. But your argument fails on explaining the (alleged) increase in sexual assault, unless you think that women tolerate being raped because it’s better than having no guy at all.
Since many seats go unfilled at universities across the country every year, women may not necessarily be shut out if more men were added to the college student pool, making the gender ratio more balanced. Right now, all the top privates gender-balance their classes. The problem seems to be with getting more men to go to college, about which Schlafly threw out some ideas, like attracting them with sports.
CF,
Not that they tolerate sexual assault, no not at all. Just that they may more easily fall prey to it if they feel forced to lower their standards in order to find a sexual partner.
Her age doesn’t have anything to do with it. She’s been saying bizarre things for decades.
My older relatives (some are older than she) say things that make sense.
Among the other fallacies in her argument, Schlafly assumes that college is sort of a closed-off environment in which the entire dating pool resides within the borders of the campus. There are numerous other ways women could find more suitable men, if that is in fact a priority during their college years. They can go off campus and meet guys their age who don’t go to their college. They would certainly have no trouble finding older men who are already working.
Absolutely correct, sally. Many colleges are in urban or semi urban/semi rural areas where there are other opportunities to socialize. Some posts make it sound like women are some desperate creatures who will put up with being treated terribly just to have a date. Thats really insulting to women.
I’m amazed that anybody can really be discussing the extremely dopey theory that there are more sexual assaults because women are in the majority at colleges. There are lots of colleges where women aren’t in the majority, and assaults happen there, too. Is there some study suggesting that it’s worse at colleges where women are in the majority? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is Vassar a hotbed of assault? It’s nonsense. I’m sorry, but no alternative theory is needed to refute a stupid theory.
Plus, what’s with this idea that only 10% of college men are datable? Even if this is true, what percentage of college women are datable?
So more men would go to college if they could play on a sports team. Really, is that the reason they are not going to college? And here i thought she said it was their cost/benefit analysis of a value college education. Apparently it will be of more value to them if they can play a sport.
^I would find it more likely that more men would go to college because that’s where the girls are. At a school where you are in a 35-40% minority, your chances would seem to be greater. And yet, this seems not to be the case, despite the fact that more young men are probably interested in getting some action than in playing an NCAA sport.
I know quite a few men who didn’t go to college after high school.
Sports was never a reason. The fact that our universities cost 25k+ per year was.
Do girls have more money than boys, though? How would that account for the growing imbalance.
As marie pointed out early in this thread, Schlafly never actually said that the gender imbalance has caused a rise in sexual assault; it was Salon who said that she said that without providing any evidence that she said it.
This discussion has morphed into one about gender imbalance and sexual assault, presumably because people here think Schlafly said it. And since they presume Schlafly said it, then it must be a stupid, ridiculous, insulting idea.
I never said it accounted for the imbalance. It was just a comment on the idea that sports would attract men.
Actually, bay, I think you said it (or words to that effect), not Schafly
What she did say " The imbalance of far more women than men at colleges has been a factor in the various sex scandals that have made news in the last couple of years."
And the commentary here has been about why are there fewer men attending college - until you brought up sexual assault again.
I think it will be interesting to see when they study why are campuses skewing to 60% women now. I don’t find the original NYT article or Shlafly’s diatribe particulaly enlightening on this topic.