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elfsPeter Beinart writing in the Atlantic about why Conservatives defend Kavanaugh more the more the accusations against him grow credible, says this:
To me, this is the ugliest piece of this whole story, this definition of "acting like men." Which men? The 10.8% of men who commit some kind of sexual assault before they graduate college, or the 89.2% of men who don't? Why do we have to make room for the 10.8%? [CITE: "Trajectory Analysis of the Campus Serial Rapist Assumption," Journal of the American Medical Association: Pediatrics, July 2017]
The JAMA article goes into detail: For that 10.8%, three-quarters "committed only one rape, or engaged in multiple rapes only during a single academic year and never again before or after." The article also goes on to emphasize that in many of the cases the whole point of the rapist is to bond with his male buddies, to be "one of the guys."
Who knows? Maybe Kavanaugh is in this category; maybe he had a wild year and in one of his drunken stupors engaged in some pretty ugly ways. Hey, it was the 80s! Remember Revenge of the Nerds? Remember Sixteen Candles? Porkys? Women were always the victims: if they could be deceived, drugged, or coerced into having sex with someone they didn't want, that was funny back then!
But no, you see, men don't have to act like that. That's not "acting like a man." That's acting like the one-in-ten men who can't control themselves, who through upbringing, media exposure, and their own innate ugliness, fail to stop themselves when they find themselves with a vulnerable woman.
If Peter Beinart believes this is "men acting like men," I'm not sure I can trust Peter Beinart's opinions.
If you’re already inclined to believe that America increasingly victimizes men simply for acting like men...
To me, this is the ugliest piece of this whole story, this definition of "acting like men." Which men? The 10.8% of men who commit some kind of sexual assault before they graduate college, or the 89.2% of men who don't? Why do we have to make room for the 10.8%? [CITE: "Trajectory Analysis of the Campus Serial Rapist Assumption," Journal of the American Medical Association: Pediatrics, July 2017]
The JAMA article goes into detail: For that 10.8%, three-quarters "committed only one rape, or engaged in multiple rapes only during a single academic year and never again before or after." The article also goes on to emphasize that in many of the cases the whole point of the rapist is to bond with his male buddies, to be "one of the guys."
Who knows? Maybe Kavanaugh is in this category; maybe he had a wild year and in one of his drunken stupors engaged in some pretty ugly ways. Hey, it was the 80s! Remember Revenge of the Nerds? Remember Sixteen Candles? Porkys? Women were always the victims: if they could be deceived, drugged, or coerced into having sex with someone they didn't want, that was funny back then!
But no, you see, men don't have to act like that. That's not "acting like a man." That's acting like the one-in-ten men who can't control themselves, who through upbringing, media exposure, and their own innate ugliness, fail to stop themselves when they find themselves with a vulnerable woman.
If Peter Beinart believes this is "men acting like men," I'm not sure I can trust Peter Beinart's opinions.
