Navigating the Murky and Dangerous Waters of the Campus Rape Debate

Hello, Internet!  Good to see you all again.  Today we're going to talk about rape culture.  What is that, you ask?  No, actually you probably don't, because you've heard that term thousands of times online and in the news, and probably have a pretty firm idea what it is.  If you don't, go read the Wikipedia article.  I'll wait.  So, why am I talking about rape culture today?  Because my school, along with a good many others, is under investigation for complete failure to deal with rapes on campus, following Senator McCaskill's probe into the matter.  This has stirred up a lot of debate online between a lot of extremely angry and significantly less coherent people on both sides.  On the militant left, they want significantly harsher rape laws, a definition of the term that encompasses so much that it would be useless, and just about everything short of castration at birth.  On the militant right, near as I can tell, they would like it very much if everyone would just accept that women exist solely for their pleasure and stop investigating it altogether.  Neither of these positions is particularly helpful to lawmaking or reasoned discussion.  To make those possible again, here's a guide to the main problems and points of contention between the two.  Maybe then we can all stop screaming at each other and get something done.

• Problem 1: What is rape?  This seems like a fairly self-explanatory question, but then I hear words like "eye-rape" and it becomes clear that someone needs to sort it out.  How about we just go back to the dictionary definition of rape?  Attaching that term to the end of something else both obscures what's actually happening (eye-rape is when a man looks at a woman in a sexual manner without her permission, and not some kind of horrifically violent act at all) and dilutes the meaning.  Yes, this means I don't consider it rape when a guy and his girlfriend get drunk, have sex, and wake up the next morning wondering what they just did.  That's wrong, yes, but it is not rape.  Find a new word for it so we can discuss it separately.  NOTE: This does not apply to taking advantage of someone who's too drunk to resist. If they're resisting, or if they would resist if something weren't preventing them from doing so, that's rape.  In fact, let's just make that the definition of rape and move on.  Add a sub-clause saying that anything imbibed unknowingly or unwillingly (compliance drugs, spiked drinks) counts as preventing them from resisting.  Threat of physical violence also counts.  Telling them to stop counts as resisting, by the way.  I think that covers everything.  
• Problem 2: How do you get people to report rape?  The problem here is that someone coming forward is likely to be accused of lying, secretly wanting it, or doing something to bring it on themselves.  None of these are good responses.  I think we all can agree on that.
• Problem 3: Who handles these cases?  On campus, this is a major issue.  Currently, with a complete lack of self-awareness and common sense, athletics departments investigate their own, fraternities handle these internally, and students handle the rest.  Who thought this was a good idea?  Is the fraternity going to report one of their members and bring trouble on their own heads?  No, of course not.  Is the football team going to drop their star quarterback?  No, they'll cover it up because their priority is on winning.  Students have their own biases, so many of them that relying on their judgment is pointless.  The first solution many bring up is to immediately involve the police department, which seems like a good idea, but bringing them onto campus opens the door for all kinds of things we don't want.  If, in the course of their investigation, they find evidence of alcohol served to minors, they have to do something about it. Drugs, likewise.  Where does it end?  Random searches of dorms for contraband and spot-checks with dogs?  No, that's a bad idea.  My solution?  Have an impartial group with no ties to any department or campus organization.  Make their sole mandate to investigate these cases and, if they find evidence that supports the accusation, turn over all evidence and the case to the police to prosecute.  Their job is not to look for other violations, so there is no problem with letting them investigate, and they have no reason to be biased.  It might actually work.  It also solves the problem no one really wants to talk about, fake rape cases.  I have friends who it has happened to.  One got drunk and slept with a girl who was dating another guy, both consenting. Other guy found out, so the girl accused my friend of being a rapist.  He was cleared, but people still bring it up.  Another had a bad breakup, so his ex accused him of raping her repeatedly.  Again, cleared for lack of evidence, but even after she admitted she was lying it hung over him for a long time.  If you have impartial and confidential outside investigators, this kind of case gets handled quietly and goes away without anyone being harmed.
• Problem 4: How do we deal with rape culture?  The answer is simple: more education, not just of students, but of everyone.  Teach people what rape is, how to deal with it, why it is wrong, and why it is unacceptable.  Start early, too; make sure that people grow up believing it to be not just illegal, but socially intolerable behavior.  If rapists are social pariahs, they won't have anyone covering for them.  At the same time, teach the administrators and officials who deal with rape to stop acting like it's a minor problem.  "Boys will be boys" is a terrible response to any question, both because it excuses terrible behavior and because it implies that there's nothing to be done about it.  There is a lot wrong with that way of thinking, too much to explain in this post, so I'll just say it's antiquated, counterproductive, insulting to both parties, and basically an excuse not to do anything.

Thank you all for reading.  I hope this has given you something to think about and maybe some ideas for how to improve the situation.  If it does, then get out and do something.  Push for this kind of change and tell your friends who aren't politically involved to join you.  Maybe if we in the middle start having a voice, we can drown out the extremists on both sides and move forward with plans that will actually make a better world.