Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
The University of Virginia detailed in a Rolling Stone investigation into sexual assault. Steve Helber
yes means yes
"Everyone considers them as rape fraternities" - US colleges have a rape problem
California has just brought in a ‘Yes means Yes’ consent law.
7.10am, 1 Dec 2014
54.9k
77
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.
Advertisement
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.
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.”
It’s best to avoid any family or pet names/dates. open a dictionary & find an obscure 7 or 8 letter word, learn everything about it so you don’t forget it, then add one or two numbers at the end, eg zamindar47
Generally using a dictionary is a bad idea, as lots of hacking software uses a dictionary to find passwords. So fire_Android+The42 is a lot worse then for instance hshjseuuebd even though it only has one character type. One thing that is actually safer. Is to have a really long password say 30 characters long with mixed character types, and write it down and keep in your wallet. Your Wallet is going to be far less likely to be stolen by hackers than your password cracked
your password is still vulnerable to advanced dictionary attack (yes, that’s a thing).
Take a phrase that’s memorable to you, and not obvious to outsiders (something you say every day).
Lets say it’s “I love the journal, except for the comments”. Use this to form the base for your password, taking the first letter of each word:
Iltjeftc
Now use a sequence of 4-6 numbers which is easy to memorize, but not obvious like your date of birth. Perhaps it’s an old pin code for a card you no longer have.
Iltjeftc12345
Your sequence of characters, while not truly random, is far less vulnerable to a dictionary attack, and you have a good length of password and a randomized digit sequence to help protect it.
Use a different password on every site. Avoid sites that limit the length of your password, three mobile for example max ten characters. That should NEVER be one of the rules when entering passwords.
I have a common password, at least, for garbage sites I don’t trust but wouldn’t give much away. At that level I’m more concerned about their storage of passwords than I am the strength.
If you have a briliant memory then fair play. But typically people end up using the same password on all sites which is another eggs-in-one-basket situation except that one of thse sites is probablybstoring the password with weak hashing or worse – in plain text.
Pick a changeable password. One method is to pick a random word like epiphany and change the third letter to the first letter of the site you’re using. So for Facebook it would be epfphany. Add numbers and capitals as required.
Use a password manager like lastpass to create and remember your passwords. It uses TNO security to encrypt your database. Then you only need to remember a handful of -pass phrases-. Use 12+ character sentences with no spacing. Caps, numbers, and special characters are less important cryptographically than length but some services require it so put one number, cap and special in.
When they interviewed serious hackers they used social engineering to make the hosting company send a new password or they compromise your PC via free wifi hacks or exploits in script so it doesn’t matter what you type
Use special characters like @ or # or ^ as well as upper and lower case letters and numbers in passwords. Most modern systems allow blank spaces in passwords as well…. “1394 T!ckEt$ t0 Go” – Don’t use this example!!
Mick O'Dwyer, legendary Kerry GAA manager and footballer, has died aged 88
1 hr ago
13.3k
16
Live Blog
World leaders slam Trump tariffs as EU insists it's 'not too late' for negotiations
Updated
56 mins ago
8.0k
As it happened
Trump hits EU goods with 20% tariff and rails against foreigners 'pillaging' US
Updated
10 hrs ago
113k
205
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say