Article here. Excerpt:

'A new survey of sexual assault on college campuses? Cue the claims of proof positive that a “rape culture” exists at schools across the nation.

Take it with a large grain of salt — for the same reason so many similar studies have turned out to fall far short of similar headlines.

In reality, there’s absolutely no sign, in this study or any other, of any “campus rape epidemic.” Indeed, national crime statistics clearly show that women are safer on a US campus than off.

Yes, the heads of Yale, Harvard and other schools responded to the new study with shock and horror. But they’re under fire for supposedly lax responses to what President Obama calls a growing crisis — and plainly lack the courage to stand up to the hype.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'So Harvard has now released the results of its sexual conduct survey and there’s only one question left to answer: How many incidents of sexual assault did not involve drinking?

In a letter to the Harvard students, faculty and alumni earlier this week, the university’s president Drew Faust explained: “Sexual assault represents a deeply troubling problem for Harvard, for colleges and universities more broadly, and for our society at large.”

The data, drawn from the survey conducted in the spring, “reinforce the alarming frequency with which our students, especially but by no means only our undergraduates, experience incidents of sexual assault.”

How frequent is it? Of the Harvard seniors who responded, “31% (or 172 women) said they had experienced some form of ‘nonconsensual sexual contact’ since college began.”'

Story here.

'A West Milford woman and her Wanaque co-defendant were sentenced Friday to five years' probation and $20,000 in restitution for making a false domestic violence complaint that landed the father of her child in jail for 18 days, the Record reported.

Jeanette Crowley, 53, and John DeWitt, 55, both apologized to Michael Stitt in Passaic County Superior Court.

Police arrested Stitt in September 2011 in front of his then 9-year-old son based on an allegation by Crowley that he stalked and assaulted her. Prosecutors later obtained evidence that the allegations were false and charged Crowley and DeWitt with perjury and providing false information to police.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Two weeks ago, a federal judge in Vermont blocked the expulsion of a Middlebury College student who had been accused of sexual misconduct and, without a hearing, was barred from enrolling for the fall semester.

"This case presents a unique situation where the plaintiff was exonerated of the charge of sexual assault by one U.S. institution following an investigation and hearing, allowed to continue his studies the next term, and subsequently determined by (Middlebury) following a second investigation of the same allegation to have committed sexual assault, after which he was expelled," wrote U.S. Judge J. Garvan Murtha.

The student, identified only as John Doe, was enrolled in a study-abroad program run by The School for International Training in November 2014 when he was accused by a non-Middlebury student of misconduct.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Finding a man, yeah.
But if you're really marriage-oriented and this is a high priority for you and you have geographical flexibility, you just might want to put this on your list, you know. San Jose, Denver, Seattle—those are going to be better dating markets for women than Miami or Fort Lauderdale or New York.

That's really interesting because it also speaks to tech's problem as a very, very male-dominated industry...
Right. Back East, the city with the best gender ratio is probably Columbus, Ohio, which has a real burgeoning tech community there.

I'm making a quantitative argument not a qualitative argument. I don't know if these [tech] guys are good guys or whether—I don't know if they can carry on a conversation or not.

They can't.
I'm just telling you by the numbers I think they're less likely to act like dickheads because they don't have the same kind of leverage.'

Submitted by a MANN reader and SAVE member who attended the debate:

'On September 16, Intelligence Squared held a debate in New York City on the issue of whether sexual assault cases taking place on college campuses should be decided by courts rather than by the colleges where the crimes allegedly took place. The motion being debated was stated simply as, “Courts, not campuses, should decide sexual assault cases.”

Arguing for the motion that these cases should be decided by courts were Jed Rubenfeld of Yale Law School and Jeannie Suk of Harvard Law School, while Michelle Anderson of CUNY School of Law and Stephen Schulhoffer of NYU School of Law argued against it. Both sides acknowledged that false allegations and wrongful convictions happen and that the issue needs to be taken seriously. They also both acknowledged that there need to be changes to the college disciplinary process to address false allegations, although those arguing against the motion gave no specific proposals as to what they would change and made it clear that they support the preponderance of the evidence standard currently required by the Department of Education.

Article here. Excerpt:

'This week, headlines in newspapers across the country trumpeted the troubling findings from a massive new survey on campus sexual assault. “1 in 4 Women Experience Sex Assault on Campus,” declared the New York Times. “One in four female undergraduates reports sexual misconduct, survey finds,” reported the Los Angeles Times. “More than 1 in 5 female undergrads at top schools suffer sexual attacks,” offered the Washington Post. Conducted last spring by the Association of American Universities, the survey of students on 27 campuses, including all but Princeton University from the Ivy League, would seem to confirm the assertion by President Obama that “1 in 5” young women are victimized during their college years. This was the key statistic the president cited when he announced last year that campus sexual assault would be a signature issue for his administration.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A new report in PEOPLE Magazine claims that the graduation of the United States Army Ranger School’s first two female cadets was rigged from the start.

According to PEOPLE‘s Susan Keating, the graduation of First Lieutenants Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver was a heavily politicized event, even before the possibility of their ever graduating from the school became a reality in August. The news comes just days after Rep. Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma) requested documentation relating to the matter from the Department of Defense over concerns that “the women got special treatment and played by different rules.”

Multiple unconfirmed sources told Keating that an unnamed general told subordinates that “a woman will graduate Ranger School” back in January. “At least one will get through,” he concluded at the time.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The 2015-16 academic year has opened with a predictable collection of demands for banning certain views, often involving sexual or racial matters. Many are couched in convoluted claims that disagreeable speech is making students feel "unsafe."

Much of the squelching aims to fend off challenges to some of the more ludicrous theories of victimization. Well-constructed thoughts on social injustice can be defended in debates.

But the concern here goes beyond the issue of free speech. What do these bizarre definitions of sexual or racial harassment do to the students' heads? They, too, are free speech, but when they are shielded from counterarguments, they take on the air of "facts." The students leave school with "givens" that are not givens 5 feet outside the campus gates.

Story here. Excerpt:

'"I love my circumcised penis!”

This is one of the more colorful things David Atkinson, 27, often hears while protesting male circumcision across the country. Passers-by outside City Hall on Thursday were more curious than crude towards the group of a dozen men, who wear all-white clothing with fake bloodstains splattered on the crotch. Their signs carry messages like “Stop cutting baby penis”, “Foreskin theft” and “His body, his choice.”

Atkinson belongs to Bloodstained Men, a California-based organization raising awareness about male genital mutilation. They’re not religiously affiliated, though they note that circumcision is “a freedom of religion issue.” Moreover, the group says it doesn't do any political lobbying for their cause.

“It’s not really very effective in the current legislative climate,” Atkinson said. “What’s more effective is public awareness, because parents are the ones who decide whether or not their child gets to keep his whole penis.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Girls now make up a larger share of the juvenile justice population, according to a new study released Friday.

The report, “Gender Injustice: System-Level Juvenile Justice Reforms for Girls” by the National Crittenton Foundation and the National Women’s Law Center, said arrests of girls increased by 45 percent over the past two decades, while court caseloads and detentions increased by 40 percent and post-adjudication placement rose by 44 percent.

A number of the girls coming through the system were found to have been victims of violence and sexual abuse at home and in their communities. 

“The traumatic and unhealthy social environments in which many girls live result in behaviors that are criminalized or are mishandled by other systems, resulting in girls’ entry into the juvenile justice system,” the report said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a report released yesterday, entitled “Cyber Violence Against Women And Girls: A Global Wake-up Call,” UN Women, the group behind last year’s risible “He for She” campaign, called on governments to use their “licensing prerogative” to ensure that “telecoms and search engines” are only “allowed to connect with the public” if they “supervise content and its dissemination.”

In other words, if search engines and ISPs don’t comply with a list of the UN’s censorship demands, the UN wants national governments to cut off their access to the public.

So, what sort of content does the UN want to censor? ISIS recruitment videos, perhaps, which lure women into lives of rape and servitude? Live-streamed executions from Syria? Revenge porn or snuff videos? There’s no shortage of dangerous and potentially traumatising content on the web, after all, much of it disproportionately affecting women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Two recent findings from the federal government regarding how school's handle campus sexual assault cases have had a disturbing similarity: Both schools were faulted for not investigating an accusation even when the accuser didn't want it investigated.

At Michigan State University, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights determined the school failed to provide a "prompt and equitable" response to an accusation because it failed to investigate an informal complaint — one where the accuser chose not to go through the school process of a formal hearing. Now the same accusation (among others) has been made against the University of Virginia.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Those familiar with #GamerGate should recognize some of those people right away, but suffice it to say that group does not consist of cyber security experts, criminal investigators, master psychologists, or pretty much anyone who could contribute productively to stopping Internet trolls from making life miserable for everyone. Instead Google Ideas picked out a handful of the same feminist agitators, social justice warriors, professional victims, and all around despicable personalities that have been the bane of the Internet for at least a year now.

Of the bunch, Anita Sarkeesian is probably the one most recognizable to HotAir readers since Jazz reported on her cancelling a talk last year. She’s made a small fortune off accusing the video game industry of being a misogyny factory with her Feminist Frequency videos, and she’s parlayed the inevitable backlash she’s received into being the go-to spokesperson for anyone interested in talking about women getting harassed online.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Police have charged an 18-year-old woman with making a false complaint after she alleged she was accosted and raped this week while running in Napier.

The woman claimed she was attacked on Monday evening along the river stopbank near the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale.

The claim prompted a police plea for sightings of men seen acting suspiciously in the area.

The woman will appear in the Hastings District Court next week and police said she had been referred to mental health service providers.

Police said she was charged after an "extensive investigation" into her allegations.

She has also been charged with theft, which police said was an unrelated event.
...
"This sort of activity is very frustrating, but police have to take every complaint seriously and we will investigate any allegations, especially ones like this of a serious sexual nature," he said.'