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The University of Virginia detailed in a Rolling Stone investigation into sexual assault. Steve Helber

"Everyone considers them as rape fraternities" - US colleges have a rape problem

California has just brought in a ‘Yes means Yes’ consent law.

Last spring, emails written by members of American University’s Epsilon Iota fraternity were leaked, revealing to a horrified public the strategies — from manipulation to outright drugging — the brothers used to have sex.

The messages from the members of the unofficial group at the Washington DC campus gave tips on targeting first-year female students — perceived to be more naive — and the best places to have sex without being seen.

One email suggested inviting girls over for drinks before a party, so they “would feel more relaxed and safe.”

That “would be such a good idea to get the bitches in the right state of intoxication,” it said.

The problem at American University is one that colleges across the nation are confronting — how to stem the rising tide of campus sexual assaults.

The issue again made headlines earlier this month when Rolling Stone magazine detailed graphic allegations of assault and gang rape at fraternity parties — and the administration’s troubling lack of action — at the prestigious University of Virginia.

After the article was published, the school announced it was suspending fraternity and sorority activity — so-called “Greek life” — until January, when the new semester begins, and would hold meetings with students, faculty, alumni and others concerned to discuss steps to prevent sexual violence on campus.

At American University, students are taking action.

Amanda Gould, who is in her second year of studies, created a group — “No more silence” — and gathered 1,700 signatures to urge the university to expel the authors of the emails.

“Everyone considers them as ‘rape fraternities,’” said Gould.

“But the university consistently said we can’t do anything, because they are not affiliated with us,” she noted, referring to Epsilon Iota’s unofficial status.

Gould nevertheless organised a demonstration on campus that she called a “turning point”, explaining: “The university can’t just sweep it under the rug anymore.”

She never managed to get a meeting with the university president, but she indirectly got support at a much higher level.

‘It’s on us’

As outrage over the prevalence of sexual assaults on college campuses — and what many critics blast as an inadequate response from authorities — spread, the White House launched a national campaign.

“It’s on us” — promoted by President Barack Obama — calls on each student to “be part of the solution.”

“Don’t be a bystander. Stopping sexual assault is about being the guy who stops it,” the campaign urges in videos using footage shot at parties, showing drunk women targeted by unscrupulous students.

Across the United States, an estimated one college student in five is raped, and only 12 percent of these attacks are reported, Obama said when he launched the campaign in September.

At American University, sophomore Faith Ferber is part of a student group that runs workshops on sexual violence prevention, which have grown in popularity on campus since the email scandal.

The group has gotten the university administration to require all members of the dozen officially recognised fraternities to attend a workshop.

For other students, workshop attendance is voluntary — despite troubling statistics from a 2013 poll showing that 18 percent of American University students had been subjected to undesired sexual relations within the previous six months.

Illinois Governor Obama Barack Obama says every student must be part of the solution. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

‘Yes means yes’ 

The hour-long presentation — with free pizza as an extra enticement — focuses on what constitutes true consent in a sexual encounter.

In a slightly stilted atmosphere and using a prepared script, two presenters explain that both parties need to be sober and must consciously agree to any sexual act.

“Consent is sexy. It is awesome to desire and to be desired,” emphasises one of the presenters.

Very little is said, however, on ways to stay out of danger — for instance, about drinking, or accepting either a drink in an open cup or a ride from a stranger.

“Risk reduction is one very small, even not essential piece to sexual prevention,” said Daniel Rappaport, the university official tasked with preventing sexual violence.

The program takes inspiration from “Yes Means Yes,” a law just passed in California. Under the new law, any sexual encounter without clear agreement could be considered rape if a complaint is filed with the university.

In other words, at issue in investigations would not be whether there was a rape, but whether there was consent — with public funding for institutions tied to compliance.

But AU’s Rappaport says the problem goes deeper than laws.

“The core problem is the way we train boys to become men who are taught to be aggressive and dominate and to see women as objects of conquest,” Rappaport said.

Perpetrators don’t stand out as easily identifiable monsters, he said.

“They have the same social skills, same class schedules, same whatever as everyone else,” Rappaport explained.

“But they have been taught and reinforced by our culture over and over again that doing what they do is acceptable.”

© – AFP 2014

First published 30 November, 6.31pm

Read: T-shirt that called rape “a snuggle with a struggle” pulled from department stores >

Read: Line drawn at Queen’s Belfast as Blurred Lines is banned >

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 7:32 PM

    That’s the problem with todays media reporting of live events, they are all so busy trying to get one up on the other channels that they don’t think for a minute about what they are saying. Imagine hiding out from some langer trying to kill you only for some idiot reporter to come on air and say “oh by the way there’s 4 hostages hiding out in the cold room”!

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    Mute Lad
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 8:58 PM

    If you can get your hands on “the human face of big data”, there’s an interesting piece on how terrorists use data and how in more prolific hostage taking countries it’s now quite common for live selected killings to take place using human search engines and media outlets for info. Or even waiting to carry out an attack to see who is in their area. Next gen terrorism. Off point but interesting.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Apr 4th 2015, 12:28 AM

    Its not just a modern thing – during a ground stand-off following an aircraft hijacking (in the 1970′s I think) special forces had approached the plane via a blind spot to launch a surprise raid on the hijackers. Unfortunately events were being broadcast on live radio and the hijackers were listening in and knew exactly what was about to happen, with disastrous results.

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    Mute David Fitzpatrick
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    Apr 4th 2015, 1:35 AM

    Amen.
    What Globalist Murdoch said about the Sydney Siege comes to mind.
    Bloodthirsty vampire.
    http://www.thejournal.ie/murdoch-tweet-sydney-1836603-Dec2014/

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 7:33 PM

    Good move. Hopefully the media will cop on a bit more. If some aren’t making it up they are getting it all wrong.

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 7:37 PM

    Fox News springs to mind!

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    Mute jenni
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 7:32 PM

    About time the tv media were taken to task, imagine if that lunatic had been watching the live stream and did go down to the chiller they were hiding in…unthinkable acts would have ensued.
    In this day and age you would think tv news channels would have more cop on…but I suppose being more and more sensationalist is worth more than a life in this day and age. How many more lives would have been saved that day if that sick man was not put under the spotlight?
    Its sad really that there is an appetite for this sensationalism.

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 7:37 PM

    Apparently the gunman was watching but must have missed that report. The cop is to blame here as well as he shouldn’t have told the media anything in the first place. With today’s communications it would be easy for any gunman to have someone else watching TV, twitter etc and keeping them informed of what was going on. Best keep the media away from they area and in the dark until it’s all over.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 8:05 PM

    I wonder if that journalist would have been so eager to broadcast that information if one of his own relatives was hiding in that freezer?…..I think not…….which just goes to show how little empathy some journalists have with other people in deadly situations.

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    Mute brian magee
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 11:01 PM

    I wonder what nationality and religion the editor / producer : journalist are?

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    Mute Alan
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 8:40 PM

    It’s like that film Night Crawler. Ratings are worth more to these stations than human lives. Check it out. Jake Gyllenhaal is great in it.

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    Mute Rowan Murphy
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 9:15 PM

    I was thinking more about the reporter from Die Hard and Die Hard 2.

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    Mute miserable now.
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 9:20 PM

    Yes. Just what I was thinking. Great movie.
    Some of these”repoters” are sociopaths.

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    Mute Patrick J O'CONNOR
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 9:21 PM

    Look at the way they vilify Israel for its conduct in the war against Hamas terror,though experts in this field attest that Israel took the most extraordinary efforts to keep civilian casualties at a minimum while Hamas used its own people as shields in some cases. But vilifying Israel feeds the Jew-hatred and sells so ‘to hell with the facts go for what sells’.
    See excerpt from Colonel Kemp’s report
    –Three days ago I spoke to an Israeli pilot that told me that the same morning he had aborted an enemy target a total of 17 times because there were civilians in the target zone, and eventually he abandoned the operation. I asked him, was that not frustrating? His answer was simply no. And that to me, is one of the best things about the IAF – that the last very thing they want to do is bomb a target and have that on their conscience for the rest of their lives. And it was the same thing with infantry soldiers. I spoke to soldiers who have been fighting in Gaza, and several of them said to me: ‘We know what the rules of engagement are but even without them, it is always on our minds that we cannot kill civilians.’ See for them, this has nothing to do with orders, it’s just always there at the forefront. We’re talking about [reservists who are] simply artists, metal-workers, musicians, they are not killers. They have absolutely no desire to kill civilians. In fact, in terms of civilian casualties, the attitude of IDF solders is the exact mirror image of the way they’re portrayed to the world.
    http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/30/col-richard-kemp-israeli-pilot-aborted-gaza-strike-17-times-to-protect-civilians-jewish-people-should-be-proud-of-the-state-of-israel-interview/
    Happy Easter All!

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    Mute Elias Khoury
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    Apr 3rd 2015, 10:57 PM

    Truly and accurately stated. You’ll get red thumbs galore, no doubt, Patrick, but that just goes to show that many people don’t like the truth messing up their paradigm.

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    Mute Patrick J O'CONNOR
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    Apr 4th 2015, 2:11 AM

    @Elias Khoury! Thanks for Elias’ sentiment. Your prediction was so but not so bad and some of them even red-thumbed Elias to spite me.Laughable isn’t it!
    I worry not but to speak the truth as I see it. People have a very healthy scepticism about the newsmedia here and it’s just a matter of time before they cotton-on to the con-job the Hamas/PLO and other Jihadders have pulled on them via the self-seeking media.
    Additionally, Jew-hatred is on the wane however imperceptible it seems.
    Happy Easter…

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