Mansplaining

[Laodicean]

[Pele'sDaughter]

http://news.yahoo.com/george-calls-sexu ... 47094.html

George Will, an occasionally controversial opinion writer for the Washington Post, decided to tackle the epidemic of campus sexual assault, and it did not go well. Will starts off his latest column claiming that colleges working to fight sexual assault are breeding an environment that makes "victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges" to students, to give you some sense of where this is going. From there, he addresses the "supposed campus epidemic of rape," and how he thinks it's all a bunch of hooey.

The reaction to Will's column was swift and cutting. "Oh good, we finally get to get rid of George Will," said one person, hoping the Post may dump Will for implying students should aspire to be sexually assaulted. "George Will writes about sexual assault on campus and it goes as well as you might expect," said Politico deputy editor Blake Hounshell. "Wow. Clearly, George Will has never been sexually assaulted," added columnist Ann Friedman. The Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal took the historical route: "George Will: Blue jeans are evil and should be stopped, rape not such a big deal."

Will blames the sexual assault hullabaloo on faulty math, dangerous progressivism, and girls who drink too much, among other things. It's never the boy's fault, especially in the anecdote he chose, in which a girl's sometimes-boyfriend has sex with her after she repeatedly says no. Shortly after, Will puts sexual assault inside scare quotes.

In Will's mind, the Obama administration's recent attempt to clean up sexual assault on campus is ridiculous. "[The administration] vows to excavate equities from the ambiguities of the hookup culture, this cocktail of hormones, alcohol and the faux sophistication of today’s prolonged adolescence of especially privileged young adults," he says.

Will tries to dabble in math in the middle of the op-ed to prove the sexual assault epidemic isn't real, and fails miserably. Will reasons that one sample size at a large university (Ohio State) that doesn't quite match up with reported statistics on sexual assault disproves the entire thing. If one in five women are sexually assaulted in college, and 12 percent of rapes go unreported, then this single university that doesn't add up disproves the entire sexual assault conspiracy, Will argues. One carefully chosen, flawed example does not disprove the whole, especially in the messy world of categorizing sexual assault. These situations rarely fit squarely into a fixed box definition. Will should stick to causing outrage with his words — data journalism is trendy, sure, but he's terrible at it.

But really this is an opportunity for Will to attack both the Obama administration and progressivism in one go, a two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity too ripe for a conservative troll to pass up. Colleges fighting to foster more inclusive, safer environments are dumbing down and softening up the next generation, and the administration is helping them, he says. We should just ignore his ignorant argument in the same manner Will thinks we should ignore sexual assault.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/06 ... us/372434/

[Luther Blissett]

http://news.yahoo.com/george-calls-sexual-assault-victimhood-coveted-status-163147094.html

George Will, an occasionally controversial opinion writer for the Washington Post, decided to tackle the epidemic of campus sexual assault, and it did not go well. Will starts off his latest column claiming that colleges working to fight sexual assault are breeding an environment that makes "victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges" to students, to give you some sense of where this is going. From there, he addresses the "supposed campus epidemic of rape," and how he thinks it's all a bunch of hooey.

The reaction to Will's column was swift and cutting. "Oh good, we finally get to get rid of George Will," said one person, hoping the Post may dump Will for implying students should aspire to be sexually assaulted. "George Will writes about sexual assault on campus and it goes as well as you might expect," said Politico deputy editor Blake Hounshell. "Wow. Clearly, George Will has never been sexually assaulted," added columnist Ann Friedman. The Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal took the historical route: "George Will: Blue jeans are evil and should be stopped, rape not such a big deal."

Will blames the sexual assault hullabaloo on faulty math, dangerous progressivism, and girls who drink too much, among other things. It's never the boy's fault, especially in the anecdote he chose, in which a girl's sometimes-boyfriend has sex with her after she repeatedly says no. Shortly after, Will puts sexual assault inside scare quotes.

In Will's mind, the Obama administration's recent attempt to clean up sexual assault on campus is ridiculous. "[The administration] vows to excavate equities from the ambiguities of the hookup culture, this cocktail of hormones, alcohol and the faux sophistication of today’s prolonged adolescence of especially privileged young adults," he says.

Will tries to dabble in math in the middle of the op-ed to prove the sexual assault epidemic isn't real, and fails miserably. Will reasons that one sample size at a large university (Ohio State) that doesn't quite match up with reported statistics on sexual assault disproves the entire thing. If one in five women are sexually assaulted in college, and 12 percent of rapes go unreported, then this single university that doesn't add up disproves the entire sexual assault conspiracy, Will argues. One carefully chosen, flawed example does not disprove the whole, especially in the messy world of categorizing sexual assault. These situations rarely fit squarely into a fixed box definition. Will should stick to causing outrage with his words — data journalism is trendy, sure, but he's terrible at it.

But really this is an opportunity for Will to attack both the Obama administration and progressivism in one go, a two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity too ripe for a conservative troll to pass up. Colleges fighting to foster more inclusive, safer environments are dumbing down and softening up the next generation, and the administration is helping them, he says. We should just ignore his ignorant argument in the same manner Will thinks we should ignore sexual assault.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/06 ... us/372434/

Some studies indicate that the percentage of rapes which go unreported is much higher than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_stati ... -reporting (75-95%)

[Hammer of Los]

...
William Golding was a great writer.
...

[Pele'sDaughter]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/swede ... 18491.html

Women who have things mansplained to them in the workplace can now report it to a dedicated hotline.

Unionen, Sweden’s largest union, is encouraging members to call up when male colleagues give them unsolicited lectures on things they already understand.

The organisation, which represents 600,000 private sector workers, launched the advice line on Monday and said it will be open from 10am to 4pm everyday for a week as part of a campaign to highlight and stamp out the insidious and damaging practice.

For those who might not be familiar with the modern portmanteau, the union defined mansplaining as when “a man explains something to a woman without being asked, particularly something which she might already know more about than the man”.

Unionen said the commonplace practice diminishes women, by making them appear less competent than they are.

A study by the American Psychological Association found that men "tend to overestimate their intelligence to a much greater extent than women" and showed that "self-assurance in men grows with age".

Unionen said the phone line, which will be staffed by a gender expert and a group of feminist politicians, comedians and scientists, is “about equality”.

“It is about putting your finger on the small everyday problems which become large when they stack up.”

When left unchecked, mansplaining can contribute to men earning more than women, and being promoted faster, the organisation said – “something most of us, regardless of sex, think is unfair and want to change”.

The hotline will advise upset and frustrated callers on what action they should take next, and aims to help them move on. But there are no set answers, instead the people staffing the line will have the freedom to say what they want, based on their own experiences.

Unsurprisingly, the initiative unleashed a flood of negative comments on Unionen's Facebook page, particularly from men.

"How would women react if you used words like 'old biddy chat' or 'female whining'? Equality can't be won using negative invective, but should be built using mutual respect and partnership. But maybe I'm the only one who thinks so," Daniel Bergman of Sundsvall wrote on their Facebook page.

Others, such as Jim Brännlund from Stockholm, were even blunter.

"Just what we need in society, more polarisation. And people wonder why right-wing populism is on the rise. You. Are. Retarded," he wrote.

Others defended the campaign, however. Linda Landgren wrote:

"Good initiative. Judging by the comments, it seems quite a lot of men feel this is aimed at them, so it shows how much this kind of work is needed."

Some said that while they would support a campaign against sexist behaviour, they thought that the references to mansplaining should be removed.

"Change the name of the event, 'Mansplaining' is incredibly sexist," Fanny Uppenberg said.

But Unionen said it was important to look at historical, structural inequality in society.

"The campaign is not intended to single out or add debt to all men," the organisation said in a statement. "The campaign aims to raise awareness among all of us, regardless of gender, about this phenomenon and hopefully begin a joint change. Everyone benefits that we visualise suppression techniques and talk about them."

It added: "There is a structural problem built into the concept mansplaining that can not be ignored. The Union shares the analysis that mansplaining is more often performed by men and we believe it is important to talk about the problem on the basis of the analysis for us to bring about change."

Unionen's gender expert Peter Tai Christensen elaborated on this explanation.

“We all react differently to changes in society. Some of us develop and integrate while others of us consciously or unconsciously resists," he said, in a statement. "Mansplaining can be interpreted as a reaction to the fact that traditional gender roles are being renegotiated.

"Mansplaining is maneuvering, tricks and suppression techniques designed to put women in their place and thereby consolidate or restore a privileged position.”

He said whether it was intentional, a form of "misguided benevolence", or just a habit, " the problem is basically that women are assumed to be less knowing, competent, important, or legitimate".

"It is obviously not the case that all men expose women to mansplaining all the time. It would be an absurd assertion that lacks reality. But enough women are exposed to enough mansplaining for it to be a problem that needs to be highlighted, discussed and solved."