Nancy Gertner's feminist bona fides can hardly be questioned. A college friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gertner is well known for her staunch defense of women in court...I'll stop right here and point out that if the sex or color of the person matters regarding the truth of the statement, then the person to whom it matters is probably a bigot. Just sayin'. But let's continue:
So what made such a staunch feminist advocate think twice about the current climate revolving around sexual assault on college campuses? It happened when her law firm took the case of a young man Gertner believed to be wrongly accused of rape even though a grand jury indicted him. In the case Gertner described, the man was accused 10 months after the encounter by a woman whose story constantly changed and was contradicted by witnesses... (boldface mine--Darren)
During a panel Thursday discussing campus sexual assault and Gertner's recent article in the American Prospect, the former federal judge discussed some sensitive topics that, had a man such as Washington Post author George Will said them, would have been excoriated.
Alas, Gertner's feminist credentials allowed her to address some issues activists have not been so open to discussing.Gertner's common sense is severely lacking in some of her compatriots on the left.
1. Investigating an accuser's claim is not victim-blaming...
2. Not all sexual assaults are created equal...
3. The alcohol element cannot be ignored...
4. The system is inherently biased against the accused...
5. The current process has to be changed
And just a reminder: women are less likely to be raped at college than in the public at large. The 1-in-5 number has been debunked so thoroughly that anyone who uses it (except as an example of bad statistics) is a demagogue and a liar.
While I agree in general … the 'not all sexual assaults are created equal' claim disturbed me. Yes, they are. They're all crimes. If they aren't a crime, then they also aren't a sexual assault -- and I know, that's overly semantic, but it's an important distinction. Because I want every woman who was raped to press charges, and I want every woman who falsely accuses someone to face perjury charges, and civil suits. But if you allow for a gray area? That helps neither party. As to the alcohol issue? If you're a guy, and the woman is clearly intoxicated -- and we all know what I mean-- you don't have sex with her. I hate the new affirmative consent law at UC, but seriously … you know when she's too drunk to consent. Admittedly, this could be a gray area, but I think it's usually pretty obvious. And this comes on the day when Ray McDonald, formerly of the 49ers, who got out of a domestic abuse charge when his girlfriend refused to press charges, just filed a civil suit against a woman who accused him of rape--and the DA elected not to prosecute. Here's the thing, though: McDonald's attorney acknowledges that this woman was drunk, fell and hit her head at the pool, doesn't remember anything after that, and McDonald admitting to having sex with her. I'm all for fairness, but we really do need to pick our battles.
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