Rich Lowry Embraces Stupid, Then Moves to Idiocy

First, a nuanced and creditable article by Emily Yoffe in Slate:

Unfortunately, under the worthy mandate of protecting victims of sexual assault, procedures are being put in place at colleges that presume the guilt of the accused. Colleges, encouraged by federal officials, are instituting solutions to sexual violence against women that abrogate the civil rights of men.

Schools that hold hearings to adjudicate claims of sexual misconduct allow the accuser and the accused to be accompanied by legal counsel. But as Judith Shulevitz noted in the New Republic in October, many schools ban lawyers from speaking to their clients (only notes can be passed). During these proceedings, the two parties are not supposed to question or cross examine each other, a prohibition recommended by the federal government in order to protect the accuser. And by federal requirement, students can be found guilty under the lowest standard of proof: preponderance of the evidence, meaning just a 51 percent certainty is all that’s needed for a finding that can permanently alter the life of the accused.

I think of myself as an advocate for efforts to reduce sexual abuse throughout our population. But I was taken aback by the misuse of statistics to fuel hysteria over sexual abuse, especially on college campuses. Yoffe:

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D–New York, is a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, or CASA, expected to be voted on next year. The legislation would, among other things, require all colleges provide a confidential adviser to guide victims through the entire process of bringing an accusation while no guidance or assistance is mandated for the accused. Gillibrand said in announcing the legislation, “We should never accept the fact that women are at a greater risk of sexual assault as soon as they step onto a college campus. But today they are.”

This is one of the frequently made assertions about campus violence, but the evidence to back it up is lacking. Being young does make people more vulnerable to serious violent crime, including sexual assault; according to government statistics those aged 18 to 24 have the highest rates of such victimization. But most studies don’t compare the victimization rates of students to nonstudents of the same age. One recent paper that does make that comparison, “Violence Against College Women” by Callie Marie Rennison and Lynn Addington, compares the crime experienced by college students and their peers who are not in college, using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey. What the researchers found was the opposite of what Gillibrand says about the dangers of campuses: “Non-student females are victims of violence at rates 1.7 times greater than are college females,” the authors wrote, and this greater victimization holds true for sex crimes: “Even if the definition of violence were limited to sexual assaults, these crimes are more pervasive for young adult women who are not in college.”

So, non-student females are raped at a higher rape than student females, and this dims the intensity with which we should pursue campus rape, at least to the extent that our horror should rest on campus rather than our city streets. Rape is horrific wherever it occurs, but to stir up the citizenry only to protect those lucky enough to earn a spot in college and not those who head from high school straight to a 9-to-5 lifestyle is misguided. Be sure to read the Yoffe's article. Her tale of the generation of a false rape allegation is chilling.


Okay, speaking of misguided, Rich Lowry outs himself as another example of a conservative who is, at bottom, pro-rape. Why is this? What is it about the conservative mindset that on issues of sex -- wait, wait, all of us know exactly why conservatives come off as pro-rape. They're against anything that undermines the validity of paternal authority or male authority in general.

Anyway, let's look a the tape:

This is drivel of the highest order. That the number of sexual assaults should included forced kissing, said Lowry: "That is not a real number—it's an advocacy number."

One could argue that -- though they shouldn't -- but the takeaway here should be that Lowry is insisting that those who would lump forced kissing with sexual assaults can't be "real," they can only be "advocates."

Father knows best, especially this dude who looked at Sarah Palin and felt that she "sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America." Clearly Lowry should have forced-kissed Palin to prove what an advocate for Sarah's brand of death-panel conservatism he really is and just how much it's not sexual assault. Sarah, as a card-carrying conservative, would have laughed it off. So would Todd, of course.

He should do that and stay away from adult conversations about sexual practices and mispractices.

Let's finish up with an example of conservative contempt for those who would resist rape. Look at this from conservative blog Power Line. First, the article, then the graphic graphic:

This kind of crap can't vanish from the American landscape soon enough.