Commentary by Jessica Fisher, Staff Writer
“RAPE CULTURE DOES NOT EXIST” reads a sign hanging up all over campus. A triggering exclamation of an opinion or fact?
On March 13, ZenMen held an event to emphatically state that it was absolutely a fact. The event was split into two parts: one part presentation and one part “open discussion.” The presentation, given by ZenMen president Sage Gerard, was a short presentation wherein Gerard hoped that if his audience walked away taking nothing else, that they could walk away accepting that rape culture did not exist.
Gerard recognizes that rape is a crime that is committed, but believes that the idea of a culture built around rape is a product of hysteria and confirmation bias.
Gerard believes that buying into rape culture is not beneficial for anyone by making all men criminals and all women victims.
Gerard believes falsely that feminists only recognize (cisgender) men as perpetrators of rape and sexual assault and only (cisgender) women as victims of rape and sexual assault.
Feminists and activists here at Kennesaw State University have gone through great pains to emphasize the ways that rape affects and is perpetrated by all kinds of people. This culminated in last fall’s YESBody! display on the campus green.
It is worth noting that, leading up to ZenMen’s event on March 13, YESBody! Joined with six other student organizations to release a flyer stating that KSU recognizes the realities of sexual assault and rape and hopes to be an ally to victims and as such, recognizes rape culture.
Karen Straughan, a men’s rights activist who joined the event via video conference, claimed she was drawn to men’s rights activism because she finds it “less whiny and more holistic” than feminism.
In fact one of the guiding rules of the event was “no whining.” It seemed that the organizers of the event had no interest in whether or not they had offended anyone. As far as they were concerned, what they were providing was nothing but irrefutable facts that they demanded to be accepted. With that in mind it is important to note that one of these “irrefutable facts” is that the Center for Disease Control misreports the actual number of rapes that occur every year.
Healthy criticism of one’s government is important, but the consensus of presenter, panelist and most of the audience seemed to be some staunch defense of the United States Constitution, an old document written by racist, feudalist and misogynists. This cherry picking of what parts of the government to criticize and which to accept whole-heartedly is telling.
Gerard spoke briefly about false accusations, fearful that innocent people may be found guilty. It is important to note that while innocent people should not be found guilty of crimes, it is the burden of the criminal justice system.
The event felt like a repeat of last November’s Men in Peril conference and featured a lot of the same talking points we saw from Gerard both in his debate and at his conference last semester. I have attended all three events and am still left unconvinced.
Devyn Springer, a junior Communication major minoring in African and African Diaspora studies and a member of YESBody! did not feel welcome or comfortable at the event.
“To me, the event seemed like an uncomfortable and poorly managed cult meeting.” Springer said. “The members of ZenMen did not try to speak to or even acknowledge me, really, and I found that strange. I thought the event would be a discussion on rape culture and men’s rights but it just turned into an hour-long feminist-bashing session. Why can’t they talk about their issues without explicitly bashing feminists?”
…..
Jessica Fisher is the Secretary/Treasurer of YESbody!
Wow, biased much?
Were you feminists not offered time in open discussion, and did you not refuse to participate?
Why can’t feminists talk about men’s issues without explicitly bashing non-feminists?
Such cowardice. I happen to know that feminists were invited to take part in this open discussion. And now we hear whining about exclusion? Please.
And this:
“It seemed that the organizers of the event had no interest in whether or not they had offended anyone.”
Brava! You may well be too young to know it, but there was a time when campus events like these were predicated on the analysis of important social phenomena, not on whether anyone’s feelz were bruised. Open and honest discourse can be intense, even painful, but that intensity pales in comparison to the damage done by dogmatic adherance to establishment orthodoxy that hinges on emotional reasoning.
Good job, ZenMen.
Ditto, Paul. There were bigots who didn’t want their prejudice challenged either, and used police dogs to prevent their hateful ‘feelings’ from being challenged.
“.. and like that really, like, reallllllly, old paper Constitution thingy, some creepy list of weird out-of-date opinions these old guys from way back before the1950s wrote …”
I attended. I still don’t have an answer from the attending feminists how promoting a narrative of fear targeting women is not misogyny.
It is misogyny and misandry at the same time.
“With that in mind it is important to note that one of these “irrefutable facts” is that the Center for Disease Control misreports the actual number of rapes that occur every year.”
If the CDC is NOT misreporting then the author and others need to accept and acknowledge that at least four out of ten rapists are female.
Thank you for your excellent comment and sources. I would argue, however, that you can prove a negative. A negation of a declarative claim does not break a proof system. Case in point, you can say not-A, then use a proof by contradiction to prove not-A.
For another example, I can prove that a perpetual motion machine does not exist by thermodynamics.
You may be interested in Steven D. Hales’ take on the subject as well: http://departments.bloomu.edu/philosophy/pages/content/hales/articlepdf/proveanegative.pdf
You can dance on the head of a pin all you want, but the absence of evidence is not evidence (let alone proof) of absence.
And you most certainly cannot prove the that a perpetual motion machine does not exist, let alone the impossibility of one existing, merely by asserting a theory, such as the 1st and 2nd “laws” of thermodynamics – particularly given that scientists are so terribly confused about the four laws.
The third of them, the Second Law, was recognized first; the first, or Zeroth Law, was formulated last; the First Law was second; and the Third Law might not even be a law in the same sense as the others.
And, given that you’re associated with that vulgar misognynist pig, Paul Elam, you can’t even prove that you have an iota of credibility in this discussion.
Reply proof: the non existence of a square circle. An object can not be by definition both a square and a circle. Therefor I can say with certainty a square circle does not exist.
Your “argument” devolves to this: If I define A in such a way that it excludes the quality B then I can assert as true that a BA cannot exist (in my own mind).
Also a perpetual motion machine could not exist and if it did it would not be a perpetual motion machine.
In other words, a unicorn cannot exist because I’ve defined this world as one in which a unicorn cannot exist.
A horse with a horn can exist there fore it is possible a unicorn can exist. A square circle can not exist and be a square circle.
Only the arrogance of youth could let you fail to realize just how much of a fool you’re making of yourself.
not an argument
The statement also fails because people older than me assert the same thing.
That your inflated ego was disturbed by my exposure of you as an intellectual dilettante and fraud in no way undermines the truth of my comment.
And you continue to be wrong about proof in the real world (as opposed to the imaginary world of Platonic ideals and abstract logical syllogisms).
When will you understand that feminism is bullshit?
Why can’t they talk about their issues without explicitly bashing feminists?”
Precisely because it is feminists that have either caused, or belligerently stand in the way of fixing, most of the problems that men face.
The National Organization of Women, one of the most powerful feminist groups in the world, vehemently opposes shared parenting. They prefer to see children have their fathers ripped out of their lives, so long as women win the spoils.
Feminist groups around the world refuse to recognize male domestic violence victims, preferring to address all males as perpetrators, and constantly quoting violence against women figures that are demonstrably false.
Etc. etc. etc. The list goes on.
RAPE CULTURE ON CAMPUS: Today’s Atlanta Newspaper puts “Rape on Campus” on the front page, reporting on six large GA Colleges:
UGa = 36,578 students
GA State = 38,430 students
Kennesaw State = 29,270 students
GA Tech = 24,001 students
GA Southern = 23,819 students
Emory Univ. = 15,489 students
All six = 167,596 students
Six months of reporting, research, and Freedom of Information requests found. from 2010 to 2015,
at all six schools:
43 sexual misconduct complaints
22 of 43 found the accused responsible
21 of 43 found the accused not responsible
13 of the accused were suspended
8 of the accused were expelled
1 of the accused was put on probation
To summarize: 22 cases of sexual misconduct in five and one-half years at six campuses and 167,596 students.
To further summarize: The Rape Culture does not exist on these campuses.
Former DeKalb County District Atty. J. Tom Morgan says: “It’s a sham. These young men are being denied very basic protections so that schools can score political points.”
I am not even going to bother commenting or critiquing this pathetic article. Instead I would like to know why aren’t ZenMen and their supporters writing more articles on this paper, showing their POVs. That is the only way the hate narrative (cloaked in politically correct BS) of the feminist movement will be refuted and addressed