Modern Feminist

I just read this on modernfeminist.com and it sums up so perfectly how I felt these past few weeks. Even though my law professors are all women and the classes I attend are half women, it is still, IMO, a very sexist environment. In my torts class, a handful of guys raised their hands and opined that women's past sexual history should be allowed to be submitted as evidence in a rape or sexual abuse trial. In my criminal law class, more than a few men were commenting on the "lack of evidence" in rape trials when all you have is the woman's testimony. "Oh," my criminal law professor inquired perplexed, "you don't understand how oral testimony is evidence?" It makes me sad and angry to know there are guys out there, sitting beside me, who believe women regularly falsely accuse men of rape and are more than willing to go through the horrendous process of a legal trial just to torture random men. It makes me sad that a woman can be sexually abused and the men entering the legal profession would submit any and every sexual encounter this woman may have had in the past as evidence that "she liked it."

I think it's sad that instead of addressing the violent nature of the rape culture in which we live, we cry foul when some young privileged men aren't better protected by the legal system. I think it's sad that we publicly disparage women who have to make difficult choices about the intersections of sex and money. I think it's sad - and sick - that we constantly question the legitimacy of rape charges when only 2-4% of rape reports are unfounded.

And it's personally sad that some of the worst comments I've received along the way have come from people I know: people who I see at conferences and pretend it never happened, people who think that spewing hatred on a listserv isn't destructive, people who don't seem to care if they disclose your personal information without consent. That's my name, dude, and I don't reveal it here for a reason. You know who I am? Bully for you (pun intended).

I don't suppose much will change. Haters will go on publishing personal information - from Kathy Sierra to the Duke lacrosse accuser - and we'll go on moderating comments. And we'll continue to lose valuable writers, videographers, and insight. A code of conduct won't do shit, in my opinion, and I wouldn't adopt it if a hierarchy of bloggers spits one out. Some brave women will continue to speak out and many of us will not. The risk remains too great, and the Duke case further cements that. I'm less afraid online than I am in public space, but I know that's not the case for many these days, and that too makes me sad.

But it's real.