Michael J. Russer is glad that universities are now being held accountable for managing rape and sexual assault cases. But he also believes we have to get to the root causes of rape culture before we can see real change.
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The young man and woman’s bodies meet. Their lips touch and open. They kiss and stroke each other, the excitement rising and their breaths and heartbeats quickening. He lies on top of her, gazes down into her eyes. A moment passes. She decides she has had enough for now, and says so. He doesn’t want to hear that. He asks her to change her mind. Her “no” grows more firm and clear. Her demeanor shifts to fear and anger. He’s mad, too, because he thinks she’s led him on.
He has a decision to make. He is strong enough to force her, to get what he thinks he needs from her. Will he? Or will his conscience overpower his anger and his lust enough to get him to let her go?
This moment – and variations on this theme, often complicated by alcohol and other factors that impair judgment — repeats itself hundreds of times every day on college campuses across the U.S. And all too often, the man makes the choice to meet his own needs for sexual release, domination or power rather than to honor the request of the woman (or, in some cases, simply the lack of express consent).
New legislation put forward by Senators Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would hold universities accountable for their handling of campus sexual abuse cases. The new legislation, which is expected to pass by the end of the year, will fine colleges and universities up to 1% of their annual operating budget (a substantial sum of money for larger institutions) for failing to manage rape and assault cases according to specific guidelines.
It’s tempting to see this as a triumphant moment in the fight against misogyny on campus—a very serious issue. A 2014 government study revealed that one in five women is raped or assaulted while at college.
Systems for reporting, investigating and prosecuting these cases are a total shambles, and in some cases, they tip the scales of justice obscenely toward the men who perpetrate these offenses against women. Would you believe that 20 percent of these institutions continue to allow assault cases involving men in their sports programs to be adjudicated by the campus athletic department?
Believe it. It’s true.
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It Takes More than New Laws
Unfortunately, this legislation addresses the symptoms of the disease in question, rather than the root cause.
Will this new legislation impact the administrative head-in-the sand approach to campus assault? Probably, since it hits them in where it hurts: squarely in the pocketbook. Yet, it clearly does nothing to address the root causes of rampant sexual violence on college campuses. Prosecuting these cases differently will not necessarily prevent them.
Rape is more about power and dominance than sex. It is based in fear and lack of human compassion – the inability to empathize, or feel what another is experiencing. A person who cannot empathize possesses at least one important trait of narcissism.
Narcissism seems to be increasingly pervasive in our society. In a recent article, Narcissism Unleashed , W. Keith Campbell and Jean M. Twenge assert that narcissism is now at epidemic proportions in our culture. They cite another study where it was found that people in their 20s were three times more likely to have the characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) than those 60 or older. Lack of empathy is one of the most important hallmarks of narcissism.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Diagnostic Criteria
To be diagnosed with NPD, a person must have five or more of the following symptoms:
- Grandiose sense of self-importance
- Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
- Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
- Requires excessive admiration
- Has a very strong sense of entitlement
- Is exploitative of others
- Lacks empathy
- Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
- Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
(Source: psychcentral.com)
Lack of empathy makes it impossible for a perpetrator to experience the fear and anger of his victim…and to have so little concern about that person’s experience that assault or sex without consent seems like a reasonable choice.
The root of this issue, then, is not failure to properly punish these perpetrators, although doing so is important; it is to address and heal the narcissistic tendencies that make these individuals capable of assault in the first place.
The most popular course at the university in my town – the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) – is Human Sexuality. While this kind of instruction does leave students more informed about sex and relationship, it does little to address the underlying issue behind campus rape culture at the individual level.
If my contention that increasingly prevalent narcissism in our culture is at the root of our campus rape culture, then we have our work cut out for us. If lack of empathy is the problem, that is where we should begin in shifting the trends. Stiffening the penalty for mishandling these cases won’t hurt, either.
Could requiring courses on human compassion make a difference? Empathy is not easy to teach, but psychologists and social-emotional educators are making great strides in this area. Anything that helps students learn how to really feel everything (both internally as self-awareness, and externally in the form of empathy) will go a long way toward this end. The results of empathy education are easily measurable.
Let’s give the new legislation a try, sure – but let’s not give up on prevention. Teaching young men to empathize is an important beginning.
Colleges and universities shouldn’t be prosecuting criminal cases in the first place. At least criminal courts make an attempt to allow the accused to defend themselves.
Katy –I totally get what you are saying about teaching empathy (and absolutely agree about your sex education comments). My point of view on this subject is a bit different. I believe (and it’s only a belief at this point) that every one of us has the ability to feel empathy –it is part of who we are as human beings (sociopaths notwithstanding). From my perspective, empathy is not an intellectual exercise, but rather a *choice* to be made and available to everyone. I say this from personal experience in that I exhibited extremely limited empathy for most of my… Read more »
Well said. I hope you are right. I hope you beat your cancer, and thank you.
“Lack of empathy makes it impossible for a perpetrator to experience the fear and anger of his victim…and to have so little concern about that person’s experience that assault or sex without consent seems like a reasonable choice.” HIS victim? Shouldn’t it be their victim as both genders can be sexually abusive? College rape isn’t just misogyny/violence against women, it’s violence against both genders, misandry + misogyny. Are men included in these laws or is it just for female victims? If men aren’t included then you have a case of misandry right there. Universities are being sued left n right… Read more »
Teaching empathy would certainly be a help. The problem is that I am not sure you can teach empathy to college students; evidence is increasingly showing that our basic personality traits are pretty much set by then. I suspect teaching empathy is a lot like teaching a foreign language; if you don’t learn it early, and practice it regularly (even daily), you lose it. I took four years in of German in high school; by the time I turned 21, I scarcely remembered a word. Later I read that the ideal time to teach a second language is before a… Read more »
Why did you bring birth control into this? What does that have to do with anything? Oh wait, you’re talking about the hobby lobby thing? Yeahhhhh …. riiiight. And since you mention TV and movies? Maybe we should pull back and stop making spur at the moment sex with a virtual stranger as something everyone should be able to have? “If we had real sex ed in this country, by the time kids got to high school (or maybe even junior high) they would be well versed in the basics of birth control and biology, and would be learning relationship… Read more »
When I was 12 years old, in the 7th grade, I was having periods and wearing a bra. I was also having erotic dreams about kissing boys and seeing them with their shirts off, and I woke up having orgasms. I didn’t know what they were of course; no one had ever bothered to tell me what an “orgasm” was. When I tried to explain to my mother what was going on “down there,” she hauled me off the doctor to be checked for a kidney infection. (Not helpful.) One of my great-grandmothers was married at age 12 and had… Read more »
@ KatyD
“Teaching empathy would certainly be a help. ”
I tend to agree with you except that this is not what our children especially our boys are being taught by “progressives”. In order for empathy to work, we must first be taught that we matter and that our boundaries need to be respected. We skip this step. Teach our children empathy and wonder why they treat each other exactly how they themselves believe they deserve to be treated.
Michael I appreciate your input and perspective. I’m a bit older than you might imagine in that “my generation” is from the 60’s and frankly I have no idea what the stats were then. My article never said that violent crimes were “up” it merely addressed the fact that it is still a significant factor of campus life. And yes, violent crimes against men are a serious and under-reported issue as well. The focus of this article was two fold: 1. Legislation alone won’t solve the underlying problem, and 2. An increase in narcissism and it concomitant lack of empathy… Read more »
Definitely am in favor of your two premises, I just have a positive take on it due to trends that run counter to the tropism of fear that, in my view, yields blanket response and indictments from heartless bureaucrats and agenda setters. Your response to my concerns is much appreciated. Sorry about the double posting of some lines in my comment. Thanks again.
When you refer to “legislation,” what are you referring to?
Jatc –you have a very valid point. Unfortunately I committed the common error of relying on a trusted source like NPR who originally reported on this new legislation and stated the 1 in 5 on campus assault statistics. Respectfully with this in mind I invite you to consider that this does not diminish the overall premise of the article that there is indeed a rape culture on campus and that legislation alone will not treat the cause. Impecable reporting is important, addressing the very real issue of rape culture in our higher education system is even more crucial. Thank you… Read more »
Michael, I respect the fact that you acknowledge Jatc’s bringing to light the inaccurate or should I say outdated information you presented. Which leads me to question the sources of such information and why it remains in main stream media. Your stats are similar to what I’ve seen other authors use. Given the fact that this has happen, do you have any concern that the numbers are being “loaded” so as to purposely make it appear worse then what it is? Poor numbers = more money to spend on “educating?” Maybe the tide is turning and programs that are in… Read more »
“From 1995 to 2005, sexual violence against U.S. female residents age 12 or older declined 64 percent from 5.0 per 1,000 females to 1.8, and remained unchanged through 2010, according to a report, Female Victims of Sexual Violence, 1994-2010, released by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)” http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/fvsv9410pr.cfm Good to note all violent crime is down. The number of total victims who are over the age of 12 has gone down 72% between 1993 and 2011. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv11.pdf Sexual assault is down 30-37% between 2002-2011. Let’s look at colleges though, the crux of your focus: “Among women, except for… Read more »
Why Michael would you write an article like this without doing some fact checking of your sources. The info you have wasn’t based on a 2014 study, it is report put out by the current government in 2014, based on SURVEYS doine in 2010. No where in the study does it say that 1 in 5 women in college, only that 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime but then when you dig deeper you find that their definition of rape includes attempted rape OR sex when the women had taken alcohol or drugs, and all this… Read more »
” OR sex when the women had taken alcohol or drugs”
That IS rape you dolt.
No, it’s not otherwise the vast majority of the adult population would comprise of rapists. Bot male and female. The ponit is that there’s plenty of people out there that are still capable of consenting after they’ve done drugs or had a drink, but the studies don’t take that into account even a little bit. They typically look assume that a person isn’t capable of consenting or that they aren’t drinking specifically so that they’ll loosen up enough ot have sex with somebody else. There’s a difference between slightly drunk but still capable of consent and so drunk that you’re… Read more »