A brief romantic encounter at UC-Davis triggered an absurd Title IX process | Hacker News Reader

A brief romantic encounter at UC-Davis triggered an absurd Title IX process

reason.com

21 pointsjseliger6 comments

I'm glad this is finally being talked about more openly. Most of the stuff I've seen regarding issues of false accusations comes from MRAs and the like. And while I don't see an issue with MRAs as a rule, the general public seems to take issue which means that most of the discussion coming from men's rights forums isn't taken seriously.

I've been nervous about this issue since the #metoo movement and "believe the victim" slogans first started making rounds. As a female who has been assaulted and violated sexually at various points in my life, my instinct is to support believing the victim because had I been believed, I would have gone through far less pain. But that's the problem. It seems like a good idea, especially to people like me who have experienced sexual violence, but it is not at all a good idea. You cannot sacrifice innocent lives to make sure that every victim has justice. That's not justice!

We face a really difficult obstacle right now. Many victims do not have proof that they were assaulted, especially if they were not penetrated or also physically assaulted, which means that many victims will never get justice if we do not automatically believe them. That's uncomfortable and painful, but that's an issue we have to sort out while also understanding that our axiom "innocent until proven guilty" is an axiom that also prevents abuse.

It reminds me of the security guard paradox - companies that hire security guards rarely see break-in attempts, so they might be led to believe that the security guard isn't doing anything. But if they get rid of the security guard, they'll suddenly see break-ins - the security guard was discouraging would-be attackers. In the same way, it's probable that with the checks and balances in place to limit the damage that false accusations might do, one might look at the rarity of false accusations and say, "hey, this is practically never happening, we can loosen the restrictions here a bit" only to see it suddenly used as a weapon because it's now suddenly effective.

Thank you for posting this.

I've never been assaulted, but I've been on the receiving end of some really shitty behavior. I won't deny spending a lot of time wishing vengeance. But I also think that if the cost for it were harm to innocent bystanders, that cost would be too much. It seems to simply be a burden that we have to carry.

hm, although our opinion is framed by the way the article is written, compared to the information the faculty unilaterally received, I would say that the accused was a victim here

I think saying "don't blame the victim" would refer to all parties involved and becomes a matter of perspective in a circumstance where there is always someone to blame, so perhaps that should be rephrased as "don't blame the accuser"?

Never. Trust. A. Woman.

Period.

It ain't worth it.

We've banned this account. Would you please not create accounts to break the site guidelines with?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com