
The Current Sex Panic Harks Back to the Era of Coddling Women - jseliger
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-18/the-current-sex-panic-harks-back-to-the-era-of-coddling-women
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cpkpad
In many states, this has already happened due to a different area of law which
operates on rumor and innuendo: divorce.

In several states, divorce law was rewritten by feminists and a lobby of
divorce lawyers. In those states, the vast majority of divorces are filed for
by women. The majority have false accusations of abuse or domestic violence
(indeed, in one state where I looked at the statistics in depth, as a man, you
have a 12% chance of engaging in domestic violence, and a >25% chance of being
accused of it).

It takes a high level of mental will-power not to generalize.

The result, unsurprisingly, is a large body of men who basically don't believe
any of these allegations until proven in a court of law. I saw several
transform from believing in equal-opportunity to becoming secret and extreme
misogynists. Several whom I know personally hold positions of high power in
both corporate and government settings.

Women at those organizations run into a secret glass ceiling.

And there is a sort of informal lobby who financially supports anti-
women's-rights candidates.

~~~
bbatha
While I'm certain all sorts of shenanigans come out in divorce proceedings,

> (indeed, in one state where I looked at the statistics in depth, as a man,
> you have a 12% chance of engaging in domestic violence, and a >25% chance of
> being accused of it).

This statistic is _not_ sufficient evidence to draw the conclusion that women
make up domestic abuse charges with regularity. Its far more likely that women
are more likely to divorce their spouse if they are abusive.

~~~
nailer
Do you genuinely believe domestic violence is an issue in more than 25% of
marriages that end in divorce?

~~~
bbatha
Yes. What the statistic we're seeing here is that women who divorce their
spouse are twice as likely to victims of domestic abuse. Is that really a
stretch?

~~~
AnimalMuppet
Because as the marriage goes bad, the man is more likely to start becoming
abusive. Because if the man is abusive, the marriage is more likely to go bad.
Both are very likely true.

Note well: I am _not_ saying that every divorce is because of abuse. I am
_not_ saying that every man in a bad marriage will become an abuser.

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watwut
Which accusations were based on innuendo and which accusations were grey area?
Those I read were not that way, but then again I did not went out of my way to
seek stories.

I am asking for specifics, because I have seen some accusations of quite clear
non-grey harassment that got discussed as if they were about "flirting" here.

~~~
krrrh
Garrison Keillor seemed like a case where the punishment outweighed the facts
as we currently know them.

~~~
mcphage
> the punishment outweighed the facts as we currently know them

How many years is he currently serving?

~~~
krrrh
Not sure if you’re being facetious or maybe english isn’t your first language,
but I’m trying to give people the benefit of the doubt over the holidays, so
here you go: his employer took away his current show, stopped playing reruns
of Prairie Home Companion, which had been on the air for decades, and renamed
the current version (it has had a new host for a couple of years). So far all
we know is his story that he accidentally touched a woman’s back under her
shirt while consoling her, apologized, apologized again via email, had apology
acknowledged and accepted.

While an employer may _punish_ an employee by firing them and destroying their
legacy as they see fit, they thankfully can not put anyone behind bars.
Obviously nothing has gone to trial, and the accuser hasn’t even spoken to the
media.

~~~
DanBC
That's only one case. There are more allegations.

------
jamesfisher
> So before we throw too many more people into Coventry, we’d better figure
> out if there isn’t some better middle way.

Why are we sending these people to Coventry? The city has a bad enough
reputation as it is.

------
taxicabjesus
I suspect that most people haven't gotten a decent "birds and the bees" talk,
so there is much confusion. If my blog post about "the difference between boys
and girls" [0] were required reading we'd all be better off... I tell women
about that experience, and they usually laugh because _they get it._

[0] [http://www.taxiwars.org/2016/02/the-difference-between-
boys-...](http://www.taxiwars.org/2016/02/the-difference-between-boys-
girls.html)

I was drawn to comment here because of these two paragraphs:

> You can think of crimes as a sort of pyramid: At the top, there are a
> relatively small number of actions that we can all clearly agree merit the
> severest sanction, if proven. And then, as you slide down the walls of the
> pyramid, a growing number of cases that are less and less bad. At the base
> of the pyramid is a gray area where reasonable people can disagree about
> whether the evidence is strong, or the behavior alleged merits any sanction.

> What happens if we try to apply the sanctions that are clearly merited for
> the guys at the top to the guys in the middle? What happens if we try to
> move the line down until it encompasses more and more of the guys at the
> bottom?

This is a good analogy, except the drug war turns this hypothetical pyramid
into something more like an hourglass. Drug war sanctions are applied to
people who haven't hurt anyone but themselves.

A week ago I learned my "Who Are Your Lifelines" [1] passenger was back in
jail. I determined that his next hearing was today, so I went. The arrest
warrant was 2.5 years old. He was actually doing fine, until he crossed paths
with a law enforcement officer ~3 weeks ago. He has a job & some degree of
stability. Hopefully this progress will persist in spite of spending the next
30 days in jail...

[1] [http://www.TaxiWars.org/who-are-your-
lifelines/](http://www.TaxiWars.org/who-are-your-lifelines/)

edit: another sentence & [0] added to opening.

