Live Debate 3/19 in NYC: Is There a Rape Culture on College Campuses?

On Monday, March 19 in New York, Cathy Young and Michael Kimmel will debate whether campuses are unsafe for women. Buy tickets today or watch live!

Soho Forum

"There is a rape culture on college campuses that creates an unsafe environment for female students."

That's the resolution that will be debated at the next Reason-Soho Forum debate, which takes place in New York City on Monday, March 19.

Co-founded and moderated by Gene Epstein, the Soho Forum is "a monthly debate series that features topics of special interest to libertarians, and the series aims to enhance social and professional ties within the NYC libertarian community."

Reason is proud to partner with the Soho Forum, to livestream each debate as it happens, and to publish the debates both as videos and as episodes of the Reason Podcast; go here for our archive.

The Soho Forum is an Oxford-style debate, which means that the audience votes before and after the proceedings. The participant who moves the most people to his or her side is declared the winner.

Details on the event:

For the affirmative:

Michael Kimmel is the SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University. Among his many books are Manhood in America; Angry White Men; The Politics of Manhood; The Gendered Society; and the best seller, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, he founded the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook in 2013.

For the negative:

Cathy Young is a contributing editor at Reason magazine, a weekly columnist at Newsday, and a regular contributor to the Jewish Daily Forward and The Weekly Standard. She's the author of two books: Growing Up in Moscow: Memories of a Soviet Girlhood (1989) and Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality (1999). A frequent speaker on college campuses, Young has also been a regular participant in the "Battle of Ideas," a unique annual weekend-long event in London that brings together speakers of diverse perspectives for dozens of panels on various issues.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Cash bar opens at 5:45pm
Event starts at 6:30pm
Subculture Theater
45 Bleecker St
NY, 10012

Tickets cost between $10 and $18 and must be purchased in advance.

Seating is limited, so buy tickets now.

The most recent Reason-Soho Forum debate asked whether sex-offender registries should be abolished.

More info on that here.

Click below to watch.

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Comments

[Rufus The Monocled]

So a man is a 'yeah' and a woman a 'nope'.

What a crazy, wacky, crazy world.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

It's disappointing, but I learned in my sociology class that many women suffer from what we call internalized misogyny. This typically manifests in women having attitudes and political opinions that are harmful to their own gender. For example, exit polls from 2016 show that a majority of white women voted for Drumpf. It's indisputable that internalized misogyny played a role in that. We're seeing a similar phenomenon in women who deny the existence of rape culture, or who make anti-feminist Youtube videos, and so on.

[Get To Da Chippah]

Hopefully some conscientious antifa activists will show up and persuade Cathy of the error in her thinking with the help of a threat of a judicious bike lock to the cranium, if not the actual blow to the head itself.

[DajjaI]

This is a despicable threat and I condemn it. And I encourage all other commenters here to do the same. SILENCE=CONSENT. This comment has been recorded and will not be forgotten.

[Get To Da Chippah]

I have made no threat. I'm merely hoping this misguided individual gets the help she so obviously needs to become a better person. Perhaps she could strike herself in the head a couple of times with a blunt object. It couldn't hurt.

[DajjaI]

Your agenda is to shut down free speech. You will fail, even though the dweebs at Reason defend you and think you are their friend.

[georgejef jeffne]

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[DajjaI]

I was banned from Reason a few years ago for condemning similar comments against a federal judge. This time I have taken screen shots.

[Red Tony]

I have some screenshots on my computer you might be interested in. PM me.

[Sevo]

"I was banned from Reason a few years ago for condemning similar comments against a federal judge. This time I have taken screen shots."

I doubt it.
You were probably banned for your lame trolling. Even by OBL's standard, it was pathetic.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

He is bored with the circle jerk of the other site he frequents.

[DajjaI]

Speaking of circle jerks, whatever happened to Heroic and Playa and that other guy?

[Paloma]

That will shut down any argument. "You can't possibly understand because you're a man. And if you're a woman and disagree, it's because you have internalized misogyny, and therefore STILL couldn't possibly understand." Makes it kind of airtight, doesn't it.

[StackOfCoins]

Don't you ever get exhausted by the insincerity? I applaud your efforts but damn, dude.

[mad.casual]

We're seeing a similar phenomenon in women who deny the existence of rape culture, or who make anti-feminist Youtube videos, and so on.

I just figured it was easier to force a woman to take a position she doesn't want.

[Ecoli]

Top marks on this one! Truly one of the finest trolls on H&R.

You exude sincerity and cite your sociology training and use impressive jargon. You threw in "Drumpf", which indicates your wokeness. You use impeccable grammar and standard English. Finally, you bring up the problem of whiteness, which, as we all know is incurable and the first indicator of sociopathic tendencies.

You are destined for a minor, well paying sinecure on Pelosi's staff.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

I find it problematic that anybody would argue against the existence of rape culture. What's the thinking there? That feminists would just make up a scary sounding name? That's absurd.

Here are the facts. Between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women will be sexually assaulted at some point. If that cannot be described as a rape culture, I don't know what can.

[Nardz]

Don't be pessimistic. 75-80% of women aren't sexually assaulted in college!

Rape culture is therefore a minority scene.
One might even say... marginalized.
Now who's the oppressor?

Don't ever change, OBL.

[DajjaI]

The number is probably higher because many people don't realize they were raped if they were drunk at the time. Also if you don't get affirmative consent at every stage of the encounter then it could be rape as well.

[damikesc]

And if both parties are drunk?

And if you demand "affirmative consent" for every stage of an encounter, it is clear you've never had sex in your life.

[Nardz]

Practicing "safe sex" doesn't refer to wearing a condom anymore
Instead, it's about getting a release form signed and notarized beforehand.

Not sure if that means the condom is now optional
I'm sure it's specified somewhere in fine print

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Phrasing!

[Get To Da Chippah]

If both people are drunk then the one with the penis is the rapist, and the one with the vagina is the victim. Unless the person with the penis identifies as a person with a vagina, then xhe is the victim too. It is possible for two women to be victims while neither being an assailant, of course. In such a situation, the proper course of action is to sue the educational institution for failing to provide a safe environment, especially if it's being run by a person with a penis.

[AlmightyJB]

"Unless the person with the penis identifies as a person with a vagina, then xhe is the victim too."

They're probably not even consistant with that being hypocrites about everything. I think the feminist control this issue more than the lgbtxyz.

[StackOfCoins]

I get a consent and release from liability form signed in triplicate on every second thrust.

[fafalone]

Every second thrust!?!? You monster, we all know you're only allowed 1 (one) thrust once consent with withdrawn. Can't you see the sexual violence you're committing with this 2 thrust rape you sexist misogynistic rapist cis-het shitlord!?!

[Sevo]

"The number is probably higher because many people don't realize they were raped if they were drunk at the time. Also if you don't get affirmative consent at every stage of the encounter then it could be rape as well."

If you change the definition of rape to 'I wish I hadn't done that last night', you can get HUGE numbers.
So your claim is, like a lot of your posts, bullshit.

[Paloma]

No, it's actually about 1 in 10,000 college women. And it's probably less because of false reports.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I'll believe we are in a post-SJW culture when the gender roles in a future debate are reversed, and no one blinks an eye. Today it would be impossible.

[Eidde]

I like how they pre-emptively deploy accusations of victim-blaming to avoid a fairly obvious point: Stay chaste and sober and your chance of being involved in a case of alleged rape will go *way* down.

[damikesc]

Yeah. If they want to pursue this issue, then why not advocate banning alcohol? Or demand single-sex dorms with curfews and the like?

[Eidde]

To be fair, for the under-21 students, alcohol is already banned.

And single-sex dorms and curfews are the preserve of backward-looking, can't-keep-up goober colleges. /sarc

[Nardz]

Chastity belts!

Boom.

Rape culture solved.

[Eidde]

If you were looking for One Weird Trick to greatly reduce the risk of being either the complainant or the defendant in a rape case, then being chaste and sober would be that one trick (or two tricks).

[DajjaI]

Yes and we need better early intervention to explain to kids that drinking alcohol, even in small amounts, can lead sooner or later to unwanted sexual encounters.

[damikesc]

But I thought expecting the young to not be total idiots was the first step in instituting a theocracy.

[Eidde]

Theocratic fanatic goobers have a monopoly on sensible ideas about personal behavior, didn't you know?

If you're *really* against theocracy, you need to prove it by having more drunken hookups.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Chaste And Sober was Eddie's nickname in.....always.

[damikesc]

Could they have found a less manly person than the cunt for the douche for the affirmative?

Is there a rape culture? No. That's a shockingly quick debate.

[DajjaI]

Wow the rape-ologists are out in force today.

[damikesc]

Does anybody outside of the Muslim world actually SUPPORT rape?

And by "rape", I mean rape. Not "sex I regret". Not "Sex where the man wasn't clairvoyant and able to figure out my thoughts in detail". Not "We both were drunk, ergo, he raped me" rape. Not "I had to fuck him or he'd dump me, so I wuz rapified!!" rape.

I'm talking ACTUAL rape.

[AlmightyJB]

STEVE SMITH likes hikers of all genders, and by likes mean RAPE.

[Eidde]

STEVE SMITH not Muslim, he is deity of own religion.

[Eidde]

(Oops, joke was too grammatical for STEVE SMITH. STEVE SMITH supposed to talk like Hulk - by which mean dumb Hulk before character got rewritten)

[Red Tony]

I just assumed you were talking about STEVE SMITH, not as STEVE SMITH. If you were talking as STEVE SMITH, it would be more like:

STEVE SMITH NOT MUSLIM. STEVE SMITH OWN DEITY.

STEVE SMITH ENJOY SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS WITH OWN DEITY.

The all-caps is key.

[Get To Da Chippah]

STEVE SMITH MAJOR IN RAPE-OLOGY IN COLLEGE.

[AlmightyJB]

No one is more victimized than US female college students. Sooo oppressed. Than there is their complete lack of agency or personal responsibility for all of their life events.

[Eidde]

If there's a rape culture, that means male scientists can grow rape in a laboratory. No wonder there are so many men in STEM fields. Talk about a hostile environment for women!

[Eidde]

What do you know, you CAN cultivate rape

[AlmightyJB]

Think I'm going to invest in Rape futures.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

"There is a rape culture on college campuses that creates an unsafe environment for female students."

What does this statement even mean? I hope they define some terms at least.

[Red Tony]

They know what the definition of "is" is.

[damikesc]

Arent there still more women than men on campus?

Ergo, WOMEN are behind rape culture.