Talking about things women can do to protect themselves from rape is the third rail, they said. But why be a journalist unless you’re willing to dig into difficult subjects and report your findings? My story churned up a lot of outrage, but I remain hopeful it will start some conversations and prevent at least some sexual assaults.And by "outrage" she means lots of hits for her article.
Yoffe and her supporters believe that there is a pernicious group of people out there encouraging college women to get blind drunk. And the ultimate Group - as David Mamet capitalized it in OLEANNA when he wanted to invent an organization out to destroy men by any means necessary including through false rape charges - is of course feminists. Yoffe quotes Anne Coughlin:
Over the years, I have had students tell me that feminists were doing them a disservice by not raising these questions. One student told me that she had been taught that we were living in a brave, new world for women, that women could drink as much as they wanted and that the women would be safe, that the law would somehow keep them safe. She and her friends learned, through hard experience, that the law—and new feminist views—could do no such thing, and she wished that she had received a more subtle, nuanced message about how to proceed in a changing culture.It must be true because Anne Coughlin has anecdotes from some unnamed students over the years.
So those crazy feminists are going around telling women they can drink as much as they want and they'll be "safe."
But Coughlin and Yoffe aren't mad at feminists for being callous about young women choking on their own vomit. The only thing that really concerns them is feminists leading young women to believe they can act unladylike and expect to avoid inciting a rapist.
Now it's time for Coughlin and Yoffe to provide evidence - who are these feminists out there imploring women to get falling-down-drunk? It's time to name names.
Yoffe is simply a garden-variety scold, exactly what you find from the man and woman on the street, as this British study demonstrates - who believe that if it isn't drinking, it's flirting or wearing revealing clothing that causes rape:
A third of Britons believe a woman who acts flirtatiously is partially or completely to blame for being raped, according to a new study.Yoffe does allow one criticism:
More than a quarter also believe a woman is at least partly responsible for being raped if she wears sexy or revealing clothing, or is drunk, the study found.
One in five think a woman is partly to blame if it is known she has many sexual partners, while more than a third believe she is responsible to some degree if she has clearly failed to say "no" to the man.
In each of these scenarios a slightly greater proportion of men than women held these views - except when it came to being drunk, when it was equal.
In fact more women (5pc) than men (3pc) thought a woman was "totally responsible" for being raped if she was intoxicated.
Support groups described the findings as "alarming" and "appalling".
But I agree with critics that the education of men is an important issue and I should have hit it harder...But I am not holding my breath waiting for Yoffe to write an article scolding men for getting drunk and raping. That's just not contrarian enough, and she wouldn't get nearly the publicity.