Why We Believed Jackie's Rape Story [Because it rang true for so many... ]

Politico ^ | December 6th, 2014 | Julia Horowitz

[Third Person]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.— It was a near-unanimous reaction: shock, but not surprise. Disgust, but not doubt. Those were the feelings that characterized the endless conversations I had as a University of Virginia student following the Nov. 19 release of Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s article, “A Rape on Campus,” in Rolling Stone.

“There was this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach in [reading] the whole thing,” fourth-year student Anna Burke told me. “I have never been through something like that myself, but it was a refrain I had heard before. There was a sort of familiar sadness to it.”

There was some anger at what many perceived as mischaracterizations of student life, student standards of integrity and the University administration. But in speaking to students across the grounds — men and women, Greek and non-Greek, first and fourth years — not one sought to challenge the validity of then-first-year student Jackie’s rape, either as a whole or in part.

In all honesty, I didn’t either.

Then, suddenly, the story fell apart. After a wave of media criticism questioned Erdely for failing to interview the alleged perpetrators of the assault, the University’s Phi Kappa Psi chapter released a statement pushing back on the allegations, citing specific factual inconsistencies. Not long after, Rolling Stone posted a statement admitting there may be discrepancies in the story, withdrawing their unilateral support. Their trust in Jackie, they said, had been “misplaced.”

Misplaced is a good word for how I feel right now. Two weeks into a process of healing and concerted action, the only shared conviction now is one of profound uncertainty. The campus — relatively oversaturated with emotion after a semester of significant trauma — feels as if it is on stand-by, poised in anticipation of where the next torrent of news will take us. I am drained. I am confused. But I keep returning to one question. If everyone here believed Jackie’s story until yesterday — a story in which she is violently raped by seven men at a fraternity house as part of a planned initiation ritual — should we not still be concerned?

There was something in that story which stuck. And that means something.

The University of Virginia — like most American universities — has a problem with rape. Current estimates, cited earlier this year by Vice President Joe Biden, hold that one in five women will be sexually assaulted while in college. That means that in my 200-person politics lecture, roughly a full row will be filled with survivors. In my 20-person major seminar, there are at least two. That is not a calculus I should have to work out in the margins of my Marx-Engels reader.

What does it say that we read an article in which an 18-year-old girl was pinned down, graphically violated by multiple people in a house we pass almost every day — and we thought, “That just may be right?” “If we are being honest with ourselves, no matter if specifics of the article are true, …reading the article as a college student, you were thinking, ‘This could happen,’” said Rex Humphries, a second-year who pledged a fraternity last spring. Your first reaction is not, ‘This is preposterous.” I asked if he thought Jackie’s story could be true. He paused and said, “Yes.”

For 17 days, we by and large believed Jackie’s story, maintaining only a few fragments of doubt. We were frustrated by the repeated use of the “Rugby Road” song, which appeared to make fun of the rape culture on campus but which most students, in fact, had never heard. We were angered by the portrayal of administrators we had worked with and personally trusted. We were slightly apprehensive at the article’s claim the rape had taken place as part of pledging, noting that pledging takes place in the spring and not the fall. But on the whole, we did not question Jackie herself. And that’s because, when we sorted through Erdely’s snide tone and some small missteps, we found something in that article that struck a chord with us.

This is not to say that it does not matter whether or not Jackie’s story is accurate. There is now a police investigation into the incident. Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi were moved out of their house after students threw bricks through the windows. Dean Nicole Eramo has received death threats. And it is becoming increasingly clear that the story that blew the lid off campus sexual assault has some major, major holes. Ultimately, though, from where I sit in Charlottesville, to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake.

“These events undoubtedly do occur here,” first-year Maddie Rita told me. “And while this report has clearly had factual flaws as well as rhetorical missteps, there are plenty of other fully corroborated accounts not only at this university, but at every university around the country.”

Only eight to nine percent of sexual assault reports, at most, are later determined false. This statistic will not change, even if Jackie does lie with the minority. One of five women will be assaulted while in college. One case, however prolific, does not change how it felt to lie in my friend’s bed and have her tell me through tears what her “first time” was really like.

That same friend, a few days after the article was released, publicly identified herself as a survivor for the first time. People were talking, and the issue — which too often hides in locked dorm rooms, in upstairs bedrooms and the dark corners of a fraternity basement — was finally being thrust out into the open. Survivors felt comfortable sharing their stories, and there was hope that reporting would increase. With the crux of the story now wholly in doubt, this progress is threatened. Where we had the opportunity to move 20 steps forward, I fear we will be pushed 20 steps back.

“I’m worried that because of the inconsistencies in this story, this will challenge the precedent of believing a survivor,” said fourth-year student Gianfranco Villar, a member of all-male sexual assault peer education group 1 in 4. “This belief is vital to improving reporting rates and maintaining a survivor’s health. It is very disappointing.”

It is no accident that the article came out, and it became apparent almost immediately that there were very tangible things we needed to discuss.

Yes, the story was sensational. But even the most sensational story, it seems, can contain frightening elements of truth.

[Steve_Seattle]

"From the Dan Rather school of pseudo journalism...”Fake but accurate”?"

There's been a lot of that "fake, but accurate" sentiment this week. Do you think that would be the rallying cry if Fox News had been the one to come out with this bogus story? Then the emphasis would all be on Fox News's incompetence and unprofessionalism. But Rolling Stone's image has hardly taken a hit.

[Organic Panic]

“We don’t see rapes. We don’t hear of rapes reported to the police. But we know 100% of all women will be raped multiple times by rich white frat boys on campus.”

Leftists are pure emotional cripples.

[Talisker]

Yes, the story was sensational. But even the most sensational story, it seems, can contain frightening elements of truth.

What a spin!

It was a sensational LIE. And lies HAVE to contain elements of the truth, or no one will believe them.

And for liberal women, all a lie needs is the claim of absolute screaming violent evil and insanity by a "male," and it puts them straight into their sadistic, narcissistic comfort zone to believe it with all their little, tiny, blackened, smoking, what-used-to-be-hearts.

What a surprise.

(Q: Gee Talisker, what woman hurt you so badly that that you've decided to continually choose to reject turning the page and thereby given yourself such anger issues at the end of each day ?)

(A: It wasn't women - It was females. Female whats, I'm sure I couldn't say. But they like to tear the wings off of butterflies and eat them. Too bad they still don't know butterfly wings are poisonous.)

[Steve_Seattle]

"because it rang true for so many"

Right, every woman knows someone who's been gang raped for hours by a bunch of frat brats. /s

[Drew68]

If everyone here believed Jackie’s story until yesterday

Who is this "everyone" you speak of?

[GeronL]

leftists do not care if it is true, as long as it “feels” true

[SES1066]

How many miles between Univ. of Virginia and the campus of Duke U? How long ago was the Lacrosse RAPE and University CONDEMNATION? Anything sound similar about a desire to BELIEVE in the absence of fact checking? How about a Hollywood type highlighting a ‘Republican’ at Oberlin for raping her only somehow the facts don’t match?

Hey Louie, round up the usual suspects!

[Opinionated Blowhard]

So brutal gang rape is something she hears about from so many? What sick world does she live in?

[Cyman]

This womans questions her blind belief of a Rolling Choom Ragazine story and then COMPLETELY TRUSTS A STATEMENT FROM JOE BIDEN?

[TigersEye]

Anna Burke told me. “I have never been through something like that myself, but it was a refrain I had heard before."

Let me condense this article;

Jackie wasn't raped, I wasn't raped but the whole thing just sounds sooooo believable! So, rape.

[USCG SimTech]

So,

Because a psychotics narrative comfortably fit into a stereotype held by militants, that lie must be believed, it must be true.

[FredZarguna]

Although Hillary Clinton did not actually run through gunfire on the Tarmac in Bosnia, it makes no difference that her story was a fabrication; because there are people somewhere, at sometime, who have run through gunfire.

Therefore, her story rings true to us.

Although four people were murdered at the US consulate in Benghazi, it makes no difference, because other people have survived terrorist mortar fire at other places on earth, and so the story that Ambassador Stevens and his security guard are still alive rings true to us.

[FredZarguna]

[FredZarguna]

Unfortunately, her fictional story caused actual harm. It's a shame that when this fraternity takes ownership of Wenner Media as a result of their settlement for defamation per se, they'll be taking over a business that isn't a going concern.

[Noamie]

They learned nothing from the Duke lacrosse episode.

I hope they get sued personally.

[Sawdring]

I have heard of a lot initiation rituals and acts of hazing but who, besides gang bangers, rape women to get into an organization? The Elephant walk, brick toss, human clock and others were all rumored to have happened.

[Pikachu_Dad]

This is the liberal media push to suppoprt their VAWA and the new sexual abuse rules they are pushing on the Campuses. Even the liberal Harrvard lawyers are starting to push back. They saiD quote: " Harvard has adopted procedures for deciding cases of alleged sexual misconduct which lack the most basic elements of fairness and due process, are overwhelmingly stacked against the accused, and are in no way required by Title IX law or regulation. Here our concerns include but are not limited to the following: ■ The absence of any adequate opportunity to discover the facts charged and to confront witnesses and present a defense at an adversary hearing. ■ The lodging of the functions of investigation, prosecution, fact-finding, and appellate review in one office, and the fact that that office is itself a Title IX compliance office rather than an entity that could be considered structurally impartial. ■ The failure to ensure adequate representation for the accused, particularly for students unable to afford representation."

[Pikachu_Dad]

And this Liberal Harvard law profs... "Harvard has inappropriately expanded the scope of forbidden conduct, including by: ■ Adopting a definition of sexual harassment that goes significantly beyond Title IX and Title VII law. ■ Adopting rules governing sexual conduct between students both of whom are impaired or incapacitated, rules which are starkly one-sided as between complainants and respondents, and entirely inadequate to address the complex issues in these unfortunate situations involving extreme use and abuse of alcohol and drugs by our students."

[Pikachu_Dad]

And they said this. "Harvard has pursued a process in arriving at its new sexual harassment policy which violates its own finest traditions of academic freedom and faculty governance, including by the following: ■ Harvard apparently decided simply to defer to the demands of certain federal administrative officials, rather than exercise independent judgment about the kind of sexual harassment policy that would be consistent with law and with the needs of our students and the larger university community. ■ Harvard failed to engage a broad group of faculty from its different schools, including the law school, in the development of the new sexual harassment policy. And Harvard imposed its new sexual harassment policy on all the schools by fiat without any adequate opportunity for consultation by the relevant faculties. ■ Harvard undermined and effectively destroyed the individual schools’ traditional authority to decide discipline for their own students. The sexual harassment policy’s provision purporting to leave the schools with decision-making authority over discipline is negated by the university’s insistence that its Title IX compliance office’s report be totally binding with respect to fact findings and violation decisions."

[FredZarguna]

How about this exchange, with a Breitbart reporter attempting to determine if an accusation made against a "campus conservative" in Lena Dunham's apparently fictional autobiography is correct:

"What you're looking for," Ms. Hess informed me, "could create a conflict of interest on campus regarding sexual assault."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"People here are less interested in justice for this kind of crime and more interested in helping the victim. I'm not psyched to help you do this."
"You can look at everything I've thus far written about this. We just want to know the truth."
"Asking whether or not a victim is telling the truth is irrelevant," Ms. Hess proclaimed. "It's just not important if they are telling the truth. If this person had wanted criminal justice they would have pursued it."

"I'm not just talking about criminal justice," I responded. "The details in the book point to a specific individual."
"Who graduated years ago."
"This man is easily found using Google and says he's innocent. Right now everyone is looking at him and he's just twisting out there."
"Our archives are private. We have no obligation to share them with anyone. I don't want our organization to be a part of this. I'm the general manager and the answer is no."

From http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/12/03/investigation-lena-dunhams-republican-rapist-story-falls-apart-under-scrutiny

Dunham herself attempted to suppress any investigation of her claims elsewhere in her book, threatening TruthRevolt with a lawsuit for covering her self-admitted child molestation of her own sister. Here: http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/lena-dunham-describes-sexually-abusing-her-toddler-sister.