Harvard Liberals Hate New Campus Sex Laws

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/26480-focus-harvard-liberals-hate-new-campus-sex-laws

One sign of trouble is that, as progressive blogger Fredrik deBoer notes, supporters of this standard don’t seem to be able to agree on what it means. Some think it mandates verbal consent and communication, preferably not just once but throughout a sexual encounter, and will revolutionize the way we approach sex and consent. Others say that it does no more than codify the simple decency of only having sex with a person who indicates that she or he is willing to have sex, and that nonverbal cues and body language will do.

Defenders of “affirmative consent,” such as Suffolk University sociologist Susan Sered, note approvingly that the legislation “removes the onus from potential victims to unequivocally convey and prove refusal … and places the onus on potential perpetrators to ensure active consent.” But this seems to be another way of saying that “yes means yes” shifts the burden of proof to the accused, which fundamentally conflicts with the presumption of innocence. And how could an accused person prove affirmative consent, especially of the nonverbal variety? When asked about this during the debates on the California bill, one of its sponsors, Democratic Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, told a newspaper, “Your guess is as good as mine.” For civil libertarians, this should not be an encouraging answer.

Klein, like some other supporters of the legislation, argues that concerns about the presumption of innocence and the constitutional rights of accused are misplaced since “college hearings do not carry the full guarantee of due process that, say, criminal legal proceedings do.” Yet he also admits that courts have held that students in university hearings are entitled to “basic due process protections,” though the level of such protections is determined “on a case-by-case basis.” It would seem reasonable that, in cases involving an accusation of non-consensual sex—something that would be a felony in the criminal justice system—the need for due process rights would be considered fairly high. Moreover, Kaminer makes a persuasive argument that “assaults on the fundamental presumption of innocence and due process in rape cases that begin on campus are unlikely to end there.” If sexual consent comes to be equated with explicit verbal agreement in college proceedings, lesser protections for victims in real courts will seem unjustifiable.

There is little doubt that some victims of rape on campus get a raw deal, especially in cases involving popular athletes in schools where sports reign supreme. But it’s far from clear that laws and policies which employ broad and confusing definitions of sexual assault and consent will do anything to address such injustices. What they will do is bring government into the bedroom in a far more literal way than the most aggressive anti-abortion laws.

In the past two years, overzealous efforts to regulate sexual conduct on campus have drawn criticism mainly from conservatives such as George Will. Ironically, in recent days, a couple of conservative commentators—Conn Carroll on Townhall.com and Heather Mac Donald in The Weekly Standard—have expressed qualified sympathy for this campaign as a way to discourage campus sex, restore chivalry, and vindicate the Victorian notion that women need to be protected from male lust. But now, we may finally be seeing a backlash against the new sex police based on fundamental liberal values: concern with the rights of the accused, opposition to government intrusion into the sexual choices of consenting adults, and rejection of benign sexism toward women. It could be a game-changing moment in this debate.

[ismnotwasm]

1. That's a very interesting article

Behind all the 'not fair' poutage, is the inconvient fact that entitled sexual privilege not a right