How can men prevent sexual assault? They can tell their pals while out drinking that the woman they’re talking to is “ugly” and “not worth sleeping with,” according to an anti-rape activist.
Kat Hofland, president of “I Always Get Consent,” an anti-rape organization, told an audience at Arizona State University in early September that suggesting women are ugly is a better rape deterrence than women being aware of their surroundings, Campus Reform reported.
She also suggested tacos.
“How many of you guys have been at a party or been with friends, and might be under the influence and someone suggests food?” Hofland said, as quoted by Campus Reform. “If you are drunk and someone says, let’s go get tacos, everyone is up and moving to get the food, right?”
I thought rape was about power and ending rape was about women’s empowerment? Is objectifying women — even falsely — really the best way to end this so-called rape culture?
Hofland also told the audience that teaching women to hold their keys between their knuckles, carry pepper spray, fight back or be aware of their surroundings was part of the rape culture.
“We should be telling people not to rape people,” Hofland said. “All these things we tell women to do … they don’t bring down the number of rapes that happen. They don’t.”
Except Hofland has no way of knowing if that’s the case. Rape and sexual assault declined 64 percent between 1995 and 2005, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. And if she wants to cite the claim that one in five women will be sexually assaulted during their college years, that has been thoroughly debunked.
Hofland told Campus Reform that the things women do to protect themselves don’t work “because they’re based off of a false idea of what sexual violence looks like.”
But Hofland’s website contradicts this in an article posted from the State Press, ASU’s student-run newspaper.
In the article, Tempe Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal said there was “a pretty significant decrease in sexual assault” following awareness events hosted by the police.
What did those awareness events include? Carbajal recommended students be aware of their surroundings and let friends know where they’re going.
The kind of things Hofland claimed don’t work.
Jaclyn Raymond, the founder of “I Always Get Consent,” said in 2013 that about 1,400 ASU students “experience either attempted or completed rape every year.” Her website notes there were just 10 cases of sexual assault reported to campus police in 2012.
Kevin D. Williamson at National Review takes down the differences between students saying they are victims and actually reporting incidents as having to do with the confusing definition of “sexual assault” on campuses.
Williamson notes a National Institute of Justice study that found the reason more women didn’t report cases of sexual assault to the police was “because they were unclear as to whether a crime was committed or that harm was intended.”
As Williamson concludes:
Simply redefining sexual assault more broadly may make the problem seem worse, but actual statistics contradict the message that college campuses are dangerous for young women.
UPDATE: Hofland responded to a Washington Examiner request for information, saying that women defending themselves is welcomed by her organization.
“In instances where the victim does not know the perpetrator, those tools are absolutely helpful and beneficial. If a person feels more comfortable with pepper spray or feels more safe after taking a self defense class, that’s a wonderful thing that we support,” Hofland said. “It’s always good to protect yourself.”
But Hofland pointed the Examiner to a 2000 NIJ report claiming that 9 out of 10 women know their sexual assaulter.
