A rather angry and somewhat incoherent rant about rampant “misandry” on college campuses spurred both editorial concern and heated “discussion” at OpEd News yesterday.
The article was primarily founded on the false statistic that nearly half of all reported rape cases are false. As Mark Twain might say: “lies, damned lies and false rape statistics”. Indeed, the statistics are just the opposite - that the vast majority of rapes and attempted rapes go unreported by the victims who are almost always female.
Clearly, many women who are subjected to such violence would rather avoid long legal battles and what they perceive as a hostile legal system that will attempt to turn the case against them rather than the perpetrator.
Even a quick perusal of domestic violence statistics in the United States indicates that women are victimized by the hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions every year, often by family members under the influence of alcohol.
Recent reports of widespread violence against women serving in the military are another sad example of how most rapes, assaults and violence against women are not reported to authorities.
The idea that many men are languishing in prisons for rapes they did not commit is absurd on its face. Indeed many men who repeatedly perpetrate domestic violence at home never go to prison, and never face any penalties whatsoever for their egregious behavior.
The idea that America, and American college campuses, have become bastions of “misandry” is beyond ludicrous and needs no further comment. If you base an entire article on false statistics, then the rest of the article can be pretty much discounted.
I might suggest that if you have issues with women's groups on campuses that you do something constructive about it, go and talk with them, see what their point of view is, rather than writing angry, inaccurate articles and posting them on websites.
Dr. John Moffett is an active research neuroscientist in the Washington, DC area, who has published over 45 scientific articles on the nervous and immune systems. Dr. Moffett is also the author and webmaster of the political opinion website www.Factinista.org, and is a Managing Editor at OpEdNews.com.
-- Thoughtfully and intelligently spoken. There is enough hatred and mean-spiritedness in this world. And sadly, we are surrounded by it and force fed it every day. Anger, hatred and bigotry is what it is - it can attempt to disguise itself or hide under the pretext of information and dialogue - but most of us can see it for what it is.
While I've never felt the urge or necessity to quote the following, after the ugliness of yesterday's words, in its simplicity, this speaks volumes...
In the words of Rodney King,
"Can't we all just get along?"
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Jan Baumgartner (49 articles, 136 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 249 comments)
on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 2:59:01 PM
Not generalities: Just simple-to-understand truths.
This short article simply states that the referred to article was based on several straight up lies, and thus all points after cannot teach us anything (except that the author is skewed in worldview. What's next? "The earth is flat!"?)
Ain't nothing fluffy about the truth.
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Mars Caulton (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 10:30:32 PM
The studies cited in my article are among the few done about actual cases involving recantation of rape allegations. These studies were not based on any preselected population -- but covered all cases in the jurisdictions in which they were done. The Innocence Project has freed 200 men falsely convicted of rape charges. We have many public celebrities who we have witnessed going through the hell of a false rape or violence claim.
In contrast, feminist studies report "reports" of rape -- hotline calls. With so many billboards about abuse hotlines everywhere, in every newspaper, every television station, it is unsurprising that so many women call up. None of these "reports" are vetted for accuracy or credibility. Just like the Duke stripper, who is mentally ill and taking a variety of medications, many of these reports are simply nonsense. In contrast, I have seen no objective scientific study suggesting that false rape allegations are rare.
Statistics published by the BJS and VAWA-funded governmental agencies are equally unreliable -- they simple cite the same "reports" of abuse.
The following link is for a YouTube video of a woman who made a false rape allegation against a police officer to avoid a traffic ticket. She was not aware that the traffic stop was being videotaped. Her recantation is on the videotape. I submit to you that if women would do this simply to avoid a parking ticket, there are millions of other reasons why they would do the same to others who don't have a videocamera running 7x24.
I have been desperately searching for any credible scientific study that informs us about how many actual rapes go unreported. I find this claim particularly dubious -- how can you cite something that is never reported, and is therefore not quantifiable or verifiable? If you have a scientific foundation for your assertion, please cite it.
I point out, as a matter of history, that the WKKK used claims about what black men might have done to a woman to drive the white supremacy movement. The movie "Rosewood" is a loose documentary of how a white women, lying about being raped by a black man, thus causing the burning of a town in Florida. Sexual imagery is very powerful. We see the same tactics being used today in our legal systems -- most often resulting in the incarceration or death penalty being levied against a poor black man.
Opinions are fine and dandy. But, on issues of great import -- particularly involving long-term incarceration or the death penalty -- we must be guided by science, and science alone. To do otherwise is to condone the ugly police state that conservatives love and liberals supposedly hate.
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 1:24:04 AM
As a PhD neuroscientist, I know something about the scientific method. But when it comes to finding out what has happened to people, you will actually need to interview them.
The US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, using interviews of approximately 134,000 people per year, shows current rape rates in the US at about 1 per 2000 people, or 150,000 cases per year.
Obviously, you don’t believe that interviews provide reliable information, but even the US Army admits there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed:
There is a great deal of injustice in this country - people in jail for crimes that they didn’t commit. Perhaps you should write about this topic in general, rather than focusing myopically on women accusing men falsely. While that may happen on occasion, it certainly isn’t the most common reason why people are falsely imprisoned. There are people on death row who are innocent, a fact proven on a regular basis now by DNA tests.
I think sometimes people apply their own situations to the world in general, and make erroneous assumptions that if something in their life, or in one particular situation was unjust, that all similar cases must be unjust. That’s obviously not logical. A small number of false rape allegations does not reduce the pain or harm associated with the real violence against women that occurs in the US every day. I think you need to take a broader look at injustice in the United States.
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John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 607 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 12:50:53 PM
Secondly, BJS studies are often not granular -- as evidenced by Dr. Murray Straus's discussion of the NCVS in his paper "The Controversy Over Domestic Violence by Women [page 24 Paragraphs 2 and 3 -- http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/CTS21.pdf]. In this paper he shows that NCVS reports on domestic violence are inflated due to misaggregative methodogical errors.
In the case of the BJS study you cite -- there are several problems: 1. Data is not presented by sex. 2. Data includes false reports 3. Data is not based on convictions (which is what really happened).
Regarding the military page at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/rape.htm, this page cites no statistics whatsoever. The Center for Military Readiness does have the numbers. According to a report of the Defense Department Inspector General released in 2005, approximately 73% of women and 72% of men at the military service academies believe that false accusations of sexual assault are a problem. See: http://www.cmrlink.org/social.asp?DocID=276
Regarding the story about the military woman who twice claims she was raped ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1335105,00.html ): This means nothing more than what she claims. I have some experience with military jurisprudence. They are extremely tough on rape. If the military did not try the guy, it is because her case was not credible. However, they did move the guy away and later discharge him, just to clear the issue. Now, if this woman's claims went ignored, and they guy was later convicted of it, then her congressional testimony would be credible. Like Mangum, who NOW asserted was being put on trial by the media, this woman simply did not have a credible claim.
I ask you this question: As a PhD. neuroscientist, do you make your decisions based on what strangers tell you, or do you make your decisions based on medical science? Certainly, there are limited situations where surveys can be useful. But in most medical situations, there a accurate tests that can be done which provide the real story.
There are no lies or misrepresentations of fact in my article. Everything said is documented in science and actual historical events.
I do take a broad view, but in a positive way. If we stop wasting billions in federal resources doing witch hunts and funding false feminist "science" and advertising, this frees up a lot of resources to use in real situations of rape. Judges and the public do know that a lot of these things are entirely false. When judges spend so much of their time listening to women hollering "wolf", it is at the expense of other cases that are real. Terry Tersak and Teri Stoddard talk about how and why real cases go ignored.
Imagine the mess if a rumor started that there was a disease that kills you and the only symptom is a headache. Trauma centers would have lines down the street, and people with critical medical conditions would die waiting in line.
Feminism is what is driving this problem. We have to deal with it if we want positive change that will benefit everyone.
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 2:39:30 PM
It starts to become boring. Especially boring it becomes when someone uses science the way it is used here. Rape is a societal issue and no statistics in the world will help that particular one raped person. I would advise Mr. Usher to catch his breath.
US is a country of opportunism. That is if someone sees that opportunity that someone will use it. The way our elite works on us - it throws us bones to gnaw- feminism, misandria, God, abortion, etc. What a noise, really. Of course, some poor shmack will much readily accept that he is deprived of his manly rights by women than that he was duped by his own compadres and his job was shipped to India. The lack of meaningful life with goals, of job security, of healthcare, of family support, of dignity - that is what we face and all the anomalies are the result of exactly that. While Mr. Usher fights the mystical feminism the real villains reap millions by developing special products for 'men' and ' women', the insurance companies soar and the attorneys count the benefits of the cases after cases. Opportunity knocks and we, the schmacks are hypnotized by statistics.
I would dare to say a strange thing: when there is plenty for men to do in the country, when they have meaningful lives and feel in control of their own lives, - rapes are then very infrequent. Honor comes from dignity and dignity comes from occupation which makes sense. Do not forget: boys become men while doing something while girls become women no matter what. That's the big difference. The Devidl finds work for idle hands. Feminism , if considered is an anomaly, a side effect of the horrible, abnormal state of life first and foremost of men.
That's what the real thing is and no statistics will help here. Only proper wealth management.
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Mark Sashine (50 articles, 19 quicklinks, 242 diaries, 3435 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 3:07:33 PM
If feminism does not exist, then neither did racism and the KKK, racism and the Nazis, the holocaust, or the Gulags of the Soviet Union.
America has more prisoners as a percentage of population than any other nation in the free world (including Russia).
Unless you want everyone to think you one of those conservatives who likes to lock everything up that moves, you might consider changing your attitude.
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 3:50:49 PM
We can spend all day arguing statistics, which you denounce in one breath (surveys), and proclaim in the next, but I think I am still not sure what you are talking about. You are couching your arguments. You said:
"I do take a broad view, but in a positive way. If we stop wasting billions in federal resources doing witch hunts and funding false feminist "science"...
I think that if you explain to us what "billions in federal resources" you are talking about (Iraq?), and what "witch hunts" you are talking about (Valerie Wilson?), and what "feminist science" you are talking about (Madam Curie?), we would understand better. I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. If you are far better educated on these subjects than others, you can't expect us to know by osmosis. You will need to explain in detail.
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John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 607 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 3:49:19 PM
You are an intelligent man. You know exactly what I am talking about. I'm not going to wander into an endless wild goose chase all over the political landscape. Feminism and what it has imposed on our justice systems and academia is the one and only issue being discussed here.
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 3:54:19 PM
I concur completely. I should add that the there is a very angry, non-productive spirit in America now.
America is becomming excessively dis-united in culture, education, economic status and ideology to the point where it is almost dysfunctional as a nation. That affects everyone. It frustrates everyone.
A productive reunification of this country, and a more equitable social contract, are not going to happen under the current administration.
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John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 607 comments)
on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 4:09:00 PM
Rape. You bet it was rape. I woke up in the furnace room in a pool of blood. The guy flashed my underwear around the barracks.
The doctors on the army base threatened that if I told who did it, all 50 would gang rape me. I was confined to the base so I couldn't go to the newspaper, I was scared. The man was the son of a senator or congressman from Oklahoma, oil rich and I was left in a desperate struggle to support myself and my baby. I scrubbed ceilings and walls and ironed for 25 cents an hour. I had a horseshoe kidney and suffeed for years from infections. Almost died when I gave birth. Was in he hospital 3 weeks. Those were hungry years. But the my officers told me how lucky I was: I didn't get a dishonorable discharge.
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emily horswill (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 66 comments)
on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 2:34:18 AM
Your assertions are not convincing. Now, it is possible that given the fact that the person involved was the son of a senator, that it was suppressed by the military. Obviously, given your age, this was some years ago -- todays military policy is not what it was twenty or thirty years ago. It is also possible that this is another instance of feminism attacking "rich white men", as in Duke. I do not know which it is.
There are a few big red flags waving here.
1. Your assertion that "military doctors" (who were not part of the alleged rape) threated you with a gang rape by 50 men, is incredulous. It is surprising that, in light of the number of individuals involved in the investigation of an event that took place many years ago, that not one of them would step forward at this time and testify alongside you. After all, at least some of them are no longer under control of the military, and they would have nothing to fear by talking about it now. And, even if it was supressed, todays military policy would reward them for coming forward now
2. Your posting includes a collection of unrelated claims intended to garner unrelated sympathy that have nothing to do with rape. Horseshoe kidney is a birth defect. Nearly dying giving birth is also unrelated. This is the classic approach by feminists -- citing a litany of hardships to motivate people to do what the "victim" wants.
I am not convinced, and I restate my position that had something really happened, we would have seen a prosecution. The fact that nobody involved is stepping forward now makes the claim less credible. The addition of a number of unrelated victim claims really sends my truth detector off the rails.
So, based on the small amount of information available here, it appears the military may have done the right thing. They removed you from the military and moved the guy somewhere else. What else could they possbly do?
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:14:10 AM
Your case, which given the uniqueness of the alleged circumstance involving a senator's son, would not lay a foundation for a conclusion that rape is a major problem in the military even if it did take place.
We do know that approximately 73% of women and 72% of men at the military service academies believe that false accusations of sexual assault are a problem. The military is not going to allow feminists to destroy it with false accusations of sexual abuse. Real rape and false rape allegations are both problems. The latter is a very common problem in the military. I think it is time that feminists be responsible for what they try to do, both in the military and elsewhere. We cannot run America on rumor or allegation.
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David R. Usher (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:45:35 AM
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