Is there a campus rape culture?

Jian Ghomeshi, Bill Cosby, Rolling Stone Magazine, Dalhousie University… Lots of stories lately have us talking about sexual assault and harassment. 

Is there a campus rape culture?

My instinct – based on anecdotal observation and my gut feeling – is that the way young men behave towards women has not changed. But, that the way that young men talk about women has. My instinct is that there is no rape culture but that locker-room conversation has become decidedly inappropriate and uncomfortable. The vast majority of young men still have a finely tuned moral compass when it comes to sexual assault and harassment but many of these same men have misplaced limits on conversation. 

Men talk about women. There is no intrinsic harm in this. We are allowed (expected, actually) to be attracted to women. And, we are allowed to talk about our lives – our hopes, thoughts, dreams, thoughts, and fantasies – with our male friends. But, there are limits to what is OK in conversation. Not every single thought deserves a voice. There is no harm in sheltered private fantasies however perverse. Freedom of thought is a fundamental right. But, the misogynist conversations that some young men are having today – while not criminal – are wildly inappropriate. 

Just what is the limit and why do these young men not see it?

In 1964 United States Supreme Court Judge, Potter Stewart said of pornography, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”

Art, like the limits of appropriate behavior, is notoriously difficult to define. My father has spent a lifetime attempting to define what makes a great photograph. I have spent my lifetime citing photographic works of art that meet his definition but that he does not want to include. Great photography is hard to define – but you know it when you see it.

The limit of appropriate male-only conversations about women will be similarly hard to define. If you tried to write a precise formula for “appropriate conversation” you would find it to be a Herculean task. Nonetheless, some conversations are clearly over the line. Some conversations will be horribly inappropriate. And, you ought to know it when you see it.

Dalhousie University has launched an investigation into some really awful Facebook conversations allegedly having occurred between at least twelve male students, all or most from the College of Dentistry. Facebook posts included a poll asking which of two fellow students “…would you hate f—k?” Another included a photo of a fellow student with the implied threat that she should be sexually assaulted after being knocked out with chloroform.

Why did young men at Dalhousie University apparently not see their misogynist conversations as completely inappropriate? 

Maybe they did and they had the conversations anyway? This “gentlemen’s group” eventually shared polls and conversations about “hiding the evidence” and about “waiting until the “s—t hit the fan.” This suggests that they clearly knew their juvenile, misogynist conversations were innapropriatte. They knew it when they saw it but they did it anyway. I suppose they thought it was OK as long as nobody found out. After all, the other participants in the conversation were willing consensual members even though they knew that the subjects of the conversation would be deeply offended and, indeed, harassed.

Men have always viewed pornography. Some, a lot. Over the last twenty years, though, porn has become readily available and the stigmatism associated with viewing pornography has diminished. Worldwide, 25% percent of daily search engine requests are for pornography. This social change must be having an impact on young men. What is that impact?

Does watching violent TV cause violence? This has been extensively studied and the answer is not entirely clear. There are correlations but causation is uncertain. Our attitudes towards violence are affected by media violence but it is not clear that violent media actually causes more violence. Indeed, violent crime is decreasing in wealthy nations whereas violent media is not. It appears that we become desensitized to violence but that we do not rush out and commit acts of violence.

My instinct is that this is what is happening with the pervasive spread of internet porn. I do not think there is an increase in sexual assault and physical harassment among young men but I think there is a desensitization to certain dialogue. Acts have not changed; words have.

The content of the locker-room conversation is different than it might have been twenty years ago because porn is explicit, misogynist, and desensitizing. The perceived limit of appropriate private conversation has shifted because of the portrayal of sexuality in porn and because what was once a private matter (sexual fantasy) has become a shared experience. 

Social media is changing how we talk to, and about, one another. The young men in Dalhousie thought they were in the sanctum of the locker room. They thought their conversations would never be revealed outside of their small group. The boundaries of conversation have shifted from twenty years ago because of the desensitizing effect of porn.

The boundaries have changed and become inappropriate. And, we are more likely to peer into the locker room and eavesdrop on the conversations because they are being recorded on social media. We are overhearing more. And, it’s icky. It does, though, give us the change to address this issue and educate ourselves about decency and respectfulness.