Susan Patton, a.k.a. Princeton Mom, is still out here with her nuanced take on gender and relationship issues. As you may recall, previous greatest hits included: date rape isn’t real, sex work is gross, and, of course, spinsterhood is the single most terrifying fate that can possibly befall a woman. CNN did a segment on campus rape yesterday, and of all possible guests they could have chosen—a social scientist, a current or former campus administrator, someone with a law enforcement background—they went with Patton. She opined that a lot of rape in college is really just “a fumbled attempt at a kiss or a caress.” At least she’s consistent. Terrible, but consistent.
The Department of Justice released a new study yesterday on rape and sexual assault among college-aged females. It found that while the rate of sexual assault for non-students is slightly higher than for women enrolled in school (7.6 per 1,000 versus 6.1 per 1,000), college students were less likely to report their rapes: the DOJ estimates that 80% of those rapes went unreported, versus 67% for non-students. In both groups, the offender was known to the victim about 80% of the time, and a weapon was used only one in 10 times.
For Patton, the fact that rape victims in college know their attackers is enough to prove that we’re not talking about real rape here.
“I think what makes this conversation so particularly prickly is the definition of rape,” she said. “It no longer is when a woman is violated at the point of a gun or knife. We’re now talking about or identifying as rape what really is a clumsy hook-up or a fumbled attempt at a kiss or a caress. How could that possibly —”
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