October 3, 2018

"Students Filed Title IX Complaints Against Kavanaugh to Prevent Him From Teaching at Harvard Law."

The Harvard Crimson reports, naming a student who supposedly said she'd filed a complaint with the University’s Office for Dispute Resolution and has been urging other students to do the same. We're told that "at least 48 students had signed an online petition certifying they had filed a Title IX complaint against the nominee."

The student who got this started argued that Kavanaugh could be accused of gender-based harassment under Harvard's definition: "verbal, nonverbal, graphic, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostile conduct based on sex, sex-stereotyping, sexual orientation or gender identity." Kavanaugh's mere presence on campus, she and others said, makes a "hostile environment" under Harvard's definition.
[The student] said she hopes students who have previously felt reluctant to file complaints with the University — whether related to Kavanaugh or to other experiences — will see that the formal process gives them “power” and “a right to our feeling of being safe.”

“I hope that, as students file these complaints and engage with this process of singling out accusers and harassers on campus, that it actually can be seen that this process is a little less formidable than the reputation of the process is on campus,” she said.
Another leader in this activism said:
“If you had a meeting in Wasserstein, you don’t know if he’s going to be there... It would be pretty terrifying for any survivor or any person to walk into a building on campus and see someone who has been alleged of a very serious crime.”
Terrifying to see a person accused of a serious crime? Kavanaugh's temperament is being questioned, but what about the temperament of these potential lawyers? Do they not feel called to deal with the difficult world of legal problems? This made me think about one of the most reviled Supreme Court cases, Bradwell v. Illinois, which allowed the state to bar women from the practice of law, back in 1873. From the concurring opinion of Justice Bradley:
The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.... 
Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?  Promoting the timidity and delicacy of women and running to the authorities with specious, backhanded complaints — what lowly, destructive activism!

IN THE COMMENTS: Lyssa said:
Every now and then, quote-unquote feminists have s minor freak out because some female celebs or young women in general don’t want to be associated with the word “feminist.” This is why. I don’t claim to know what feminism really means; it seems to be something different to everyone, so I generally avoid the term entirely. But if feminism involves this kind of weakness, I want absolutely no part of it.

If I were still in law school, I’d get that Bradley quote put in a t-shirt. It’s awsome.
"Awsome" = a typo or a word that means cute (that is, inspiring people to say "aw").

Anyway, I've had that problem with feminism for close to half a century, but I still care about salvaging the word. Why give it away to people who are undermining the very cause that matters to you? I remember saying — 35 years ago — that I didn't want to call myself a feminist because I didn't want to wear a label with a meaning that wasn't clear and stable and within my control. But that never meant I didn't care about participating in the struggle over the meaning of the word. It's a big struggle, and I say never surrender.

CORRECTION: I thought the activist students were law students, but now I'm seeing the word "undergraduate" in the first and second paragraphs and have deleted the references to law students. I hope it is true that law students know better than to engage in this maneuver and that they are leaning into strength and readying themselves to confront the roughness of the real world.

139 comments:

rehajm said...

Power play.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

These are the worthless feminist twats that Harvard lets in while discriminating against Asians.

These social justice retards need to be stopped, they want to turn the entire country into some giant liberal arts campus of Kangaroo courts.

MadisonMan said...

I wonder if these women voted for Hillary.

rhhardin said...

Believe the women.

rhhardin said...

If you ridicule this, other snowflakes will be reluctant to come forward.

rhhardin said...

Strictly speaking, it's not timidity but aggressiveness in using the law.

TrespassersW said...

If they wanted to prove Justice Bradley correct, would they be doing anything differently?

Ralph L said...

90% of the female crime victims on TV are obviously traumatized and can't seem to neutralize their attackers successfully--on shows oriented toward a female audience. You can tell by the amount of soap opera.

ALP said...

Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?
*******************
Been asking that for years and years. Can you imagine women like this as President, dealing with the likes of Putin? Me neither.

TrespassersW said...

Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?

Who needs strength when you can exploit a crappy law to get power?

Craig said...

I think you're misreading the article. I think the named student was an undergraduate, and my impression is that the bulk of these students are undergraduates (which is why they are worried about seeing him in the course of entering the building for a meeting, as opposed to having him teach a course).

(I agree with the general sentiment--be tougher students! But I am not surprised that 48 undergraduates out of ~6600 would do something hasty and agency-asserting.)

exhelodrvr1 said...

"Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?"

Because then they would be Republicans. And ostracized.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

It would be pretty terrifying for any survivor or any person to walk into a building on campus and see someone who has been alleged of a very serious crime.

So I guess we need to bar survivors from any role in the criminal justice system. Can't be a prosecutor, nor a defense attorney, nor a judge. Can't sit on a jury.

Ann Althouse said...

"I think you're misreading the article. I think the named student was an undergraduate, and my impression is that the bulk of these students are undergraduates (which is why they are worried about seeing him in the course of entering the building for a meeting, as opposed to having him teach a course). "

The Harvard Crimson is the law school newspaper, and K was teaching in the law school. I think if these were undergraduates, the article would say. But please correct me if I'm wrong.

Lyssa said...

Every now and then, quote-unquote feminists have s minor freak out because some female celebs or young women in general don’t want to be associated with the word “feminist.” This is why. I don’t claim to know what feminism really means; it seems to be something different to everyone, so I generally avoid the term entirely. But if feminism involves this kind of weakness, I want absolutely no part of it.

If I were still in law school, I’d get that Bradley quote put in a t-shirt. It’s awsome.

Henry said...

This is the other extreme to Trump's mockery. The self-mockery of the self-absorbed.

Ann Althouse said...

The building referred to, Wasserstein, is a law school building. This is all so intra-law-school that I presume the named students are law students.

Birkel said...

Let 1000s of Title IX complaints bloom.
File them nine ways to Sunday.
That is the Solidarity Movement's advice from 1970s Poland.
Lech Walesa approved this message.

Ralph L said...

"undergraduates eager to block his return to campus struck on a new strategy: file Title IX complaints against the conservative judge."

Craig said...

From the opening paragraph: "In the days before Harvard Law School announced embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not teach in Cambridge this January, undergraduates eager to block his return to campus struck on a new strategy: file Title IX complaints against the conservative judge."

I also googled the named student, and she appears to be an undergraduate student.

Oso Negro said...

At the risk of veering into Shouting Thomas territory, I would like to ask Althouse if 1) this was an academic climate she aspired to create (yeah, yeah, Wisconsin ain’t Harvard) or 2) if there is something she wishes she had done differently to help feminism grow in a different direction.

jaydub said...

These snow flakes prove Bradley to have been very perceptive. Pity he didn't prevail.

mccullough said...

These women need to be corporate lawyers. They won’t be able to go into a courthouse because those buildings are filled with people accused of “serious crimes.”

Anyway, we’re approaching the logical conclusion of the last 30 years of Grievance Studies. The Best and the Brightest.

Any guy who gets near one of these Harvard Girls deserves what is he going to get. The Harvard Administration deserves this. The Harvard Alumni deserve this.

A Harvard Degree is a fucking joke. What college would admit these silly girls?

Mad Boston Arab said...

Employers take note! These women filed a sexual harasment case with very little evidence. Do you really want to work with these women ?
Ann new category for you--"fainting couch feminist"

rehajm said...

I think if these were undergraduates, the article would say.

In the days before Harvard Law School announced embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not teach in Cambridge this January, undergraduates eager to block his return to campus struck on a new strategy: file Title IX complaints against the conservative judge.

First paragraph 'bout covers it don' it?

Gahrie said...

Dare one say these women are behaving hysterically?

Hasn't the entire Left been trapped in hysteria since Hillary lost?

Ralph L said...

"Jacqueline L. Kellogg ’19 — who said she has filed a complaint against Kavanaugh with the University’s Office for Dispute Resolution — came up with the idea several days ago. She began urging fellow students to follow suit over the weekend, at one point sending an email to a group of students at the College and the Law School that offered specific instructions on how to bring a formal complaint to ODR."

So the idea was an undergrad's, not a law student's. Why weren't they bright enough? Isn't HLS the premier law school in the country?

Eleanor said...

The Harvard Crimson is the daily newspaper of Harvard undergraduates. I don't know if the law school has its own paper or not.

tcrosse said...

It seems close to the same impetus that drove the Jews out of German academia.

Henry said...

It is so hard to find public defenders these days.

Wince said...

Ann Althouse said...
The building referred to, Wasserstein...

If the building were named Weinstein they might have a case, almost.

rhhardin said...

It's the law that's hysterical, not the women. The women are just sticking it to Kavanaugh, not being terrified.

Freeman Hunt said...

This is disgusting. These are the last people we need anywhere near the law.

Gahrie said...

Of course, if I was attending an institution in which I had a 25% chance of getting raped, I'd probably be hysterical too.

And if I attended an institution where being hysterical was rewarded, I might behave that way too.

Gahrie said...

How many cop killers and other terrorists are working at Harvard?

tim in vermont said...

Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength? Promoting the timidity and delicacy of women and running to the authorities with specious, backhanded complaints — what lowly, destructive activism!

Their weakness is their strength. As I said on the other thread, “Logic” is their red cape and mommy issues is their killing sword. The bull doesn’t figure it out until it’s too late.

bagoh20 said...

Passive-aggressive + cruel non-neutrality = toxic femininity.

tim in vermont said...

It would be pretty terrifying for any survivor or any person to walk into a building on campus and see someone who has been alleged of a very serious crime.

So Bill and Hillary Clinton are banned from Harvard, oh and BTW, Cookie has “alleged” that Obama is a war criminal. How did these kids get into Harvard?

mccullough said...

These are the Students that Harvard wants. Harvard is a shithole

The Crack Emcee said...

Anybody think there's a connection between ‘New Age’ beliefs being common among both religious and nonreligious Americans and this new-found willingness by certain groups to make up lies defending principles the NewAge just happens to secretly, and not-so-secretly, advocate?

Or, are there so many NewAgers here, that sounds like a stupid question?

Wince said...

Althouse said...
I remember saying — 35 years ago — that I didn't want to call myself a feminist because I didn't want to wear a label with a meaning that wasn't clear and stable and within my control.

Then it's probably a good idea to stay away from the term "alt-feminist", Althouse.

stlcdr said...

“Employers take note! These women filed a sexual harasment case with very little evidence. Do you really want to work with these women ?”

Sadly, an easy solution: don’t hire women. The law (sic) of unintended consequences.

(While women are a ‘protected class’ based on current law, when the effort involved in hiring and having women on the workforce, exceeds any benefit, employers will find ways to make these problems go away).

tcrosse said...

Next Medical Students will complain about having to confront sick people.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Lawyers who can never visit clients in prison; at the mere sight of the people in there, they might puke, faint, or need smelling salts. No one who has been convicted of a serious crime--apparently, no one who has been accused of a serious crime with some degree of credibility--can ever get legal representation from a woman. What about working in corporate law, representing the bankers? Haven't those people profited from worsening the gap between rich and poor? One shudders to think, and then one asks for help, hoping there might be someone around who isn't shuddering quite so much.

Expat(ish) said...

Taking back Porch Monkey
https://youtu.be/7qc0akWRBQk?t=184

-XC

SDaly said...

I think the word you are looking for is "crybullies".

Martha said...

Commenter on Crimson article claims the student filing the Title IX is an not a law student but an undergrad majoring in Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality and African American studies. That would make more sense.

wendybar said...

What the hell are Democrats going to do when she is proven a liar, Kavenaugh gets confirmed to the Supreme Court, Donald Trump wins in 2020 and he also gets at least another Supreme Court nominee??? They are digging their own graves. The idiots think that MOB MENTALITY is going to win anything for them are horribly mistaken. The American people see through them and we are laughing.

narciso said...


A friend pointed out the physical impossibility, unless the witness used a time machine


https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/10/dear-sen-coons-youve-got-to-be-kidding.php?utm_campaign=Roost&utm_source=Roost&utm_medium=push

SDaly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mccullough said...

Some entrepreneur must have started a business compiling backgrounds on students like the Harvard Girls for employers to use.

Get the names of the students who signed the petition and put them on the Do Not Hire List.

Of course these Harvard Girls can live on the trust funds they are on and work for Soros. Go yell at some Pussy Senator who will take it from them.

SDaly said...

By the by, most of you have probably seen this, but here is the vaunted feminist / gender / intersectional theology exposed:

Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship:

“I wonder if they’d publish a feminist rewrite of a chapter from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.” The answer to that question also turns out to be “yes,” given that the feminist social work journal Affilia has just accepted it.

Martha said...

The Crimson is published by the undergrads but covers all Harvard University news fit to print.

Mr. Majestyk said...

"alleged of a very serious crime"?

Are these people illiterate?

Wince said...

Ugh... The verdict is in...

"You've been Kavan-gnawed!"


gnaw: verb (2) cause persistent and wearing distress or anxiety.

gg6 said...

Hey, Althouse, what's with this - you mock a 'typo' by a female commentator? Man, you have some set of balls for this day and age! 'Anyway', I did learn something here - that justice Bradley guy was pretty damn insightful, even prescient. What could qualify more as an act of "timidity and delicacy" than trying to castrate a Male by accusing him in the manner of the very feminine Ford witch?

Ann Althouse said...

"From the opening paragraph: "In the days before Harvard Law School announced embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not teach in Cambridge this January, undergraduates eager to block his return to campus struck on a new strategy: file Title IX complaints against the conservative judge." I also googled the named student, and she appears to be an undergraduate student."

Thanks, Craig! i corrected the relevant things in the post and added an update.

Michael K said...

Grievance studies, as branch of "Women, Gender, & Sexuality and African American studies." is pretty much a sham and a fraud.

The current news about Academic Hoaxes focuses on "Gender, Place & Culture," a fake journal.

The existence of a monthly journal focused on “feminist geography” is a sign of something gone awry in academia. The journal in question—Gender, Place & Culture—published a paper online in May whose author claimed to have spent a year observing canine sexual misconduct in Portland, Ore., parks.

They are all frauds and I hope these women find meaningful jobs at Starbucks.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Behold: the totalitarian brown shirt leftwing mob.

Fernandinande said...

Fake News Comes to Academia

"How three scholars gulled academic journals to publish hoax papers on ‘grievance studies.’"

++

A long funny article by the perps:

Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship

"1 paper (the one about rape culture in dog parks) gained special recognition for excellence from its journal, Gender, Place, and Culture, a highly ranked journal that leads the field of feminist geography."
...

"Our papers also present very shoddy methodologies including incredibly implausible statistics (“Dog Park”), making claims not warranted by the data (“CisNorm,” “Hooters,” “Dildos”), and ideologically-motivated qualitative analyses (“CisNorm,” “Porn”). (NB: See Papers section below.) Questionable qualitative methodologies such as poetic inquiry and autoethnography (sometimes rightly and pejoratively called “mesearch”) were incorporated (especially in “Moon Meetings”)."

They paper they refer to as "Hooters" is really titled:

"An Ethnography of Breastaurant Masculinity: Themes of Objectification, Sexual Conquest, Male Control, and Masculine Toughness in a Sexually Objectifying Restaurant"

mccullough said...

Salvaging the word feminism is as useless as Hindus trying to salvage the Swastika.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's not girl power- it's anti-free speech activism.

robother said...

As I recall, young female undergrads discovered the UT Law Library was a great place to troll for more likely husband prospects than on main campus. I assume the same goes for Harvard Law Library. God forbid that the presence of Brett Kavanaugh deter them from their hypergamous quest.

Browndog said...

Steven Crowder does a series called "change my mind" where he sets up up table with a statement followed by "change my mind" to invite dialog as to why he is wrong.

He was outside of Texas Christian University (TCU) this week. The topic: Rape culture is a myth-change my mind.

The university put out this statement on twitter:

Today, Steven Crowder chose to challenge our students on a public sidewalk in front of the university. While the Constitution gives him the right to express his views, the sentiments he expressed do not align with TCU’s values.

His views adversely affected many members of our campus community. The health and safety of the Horned Frog Family is of utmost importance and we encourage individuals to contact campus resources for support. https://counseling.tcu.edu https://titleix.tcu.edu/ https://campuslife.tcu.edu/

Lucid-Ideas said...

If you want to understand what a politic under feminism looks like, you need to look no farther than the Assemblywomen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assemblywomen

You know what's funny? It was a comedy aka farce. That's what's funny.

Ralph L said...

I hope it is true that law students know better than to engage in this maneuver

I think the 48 students who complained must be law students. Undergrads don't have standing.

The undergrad sent the idea to law students, but the article elides who did the complaining.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

It's a big struggle, and I say never surrender. Althouse says about feminism

Maybe it is time to activate the Omega 13 Never give up....never surrender....

BTW: I totally agree with Lyssa's take on Feminism.

What a bunch of weak whiners. They can't decide if they are strong women or if they need a fainting couch.

They are driving ME crazy and I am a woman. I can't imagine being a guy around them or being one of their boyfriends (if having a relationship with a man is even possible for them). Those men must be so confused.

Lyssa said...

gg6, I didn’t interpret Althouse as mocking. It definitely was a typo (I’m phoning things in, literally), but I thought the observation about the double meaning was funny. That said, there’s nothing adorable (which implies harmlessness) about this stuff. It’s tearing our nation apart. I don’t appreciate any of his being done in my name (as a woman).

Christy said...

Feminists fight for the right to be CEO while refusing to shovel shit in the sewer. I eagerly went to my first and only feminist gathering in Autumn, 1975, shortly after arriving at college. I've never had any reason to revisit that first impression.

gg6 said...

ALTHOUSE: "...in the struggle over the meaning of the word. It's a big struggle, and I say never surrender."
Really? For a self-professed etymologista that seems a pretty flatheaded and useless struggle - words become what they want to become through usage. There's no arguing or voting that makes any difference at all. If the word 'Feminist' dies a slow, ugly death, it's because it earned it.

Sebastian said...

"Terrifying to see a person accused of a serious crime?"

Why not? These are maneuvers in the culture war, gender territory. Both progs and the Althouses have encouraged women to see themselves as special, deserving of special consideration, possessed of special credibility, entitled to special treatment. So why not?

"Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?"

Because they don't have to. Assertions of weakness will get them what they want, and serve the larger prog cause.

They know the more moderate , skeptical feminists like Althouse will umm and ahh but not draw a line. Since sisterhood prevails over everything, anything goes.

The Crack Emcee said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...

"Behold: the totalitarian brown shirt leftwing mob."

The Hitler Youth's slogan was "Mind, Body, Spirit".

Just like some other group, today, who's name escapes me right now....

Anonymous said...

Best and brightest, folks. Bestest and brightestest.

But it speaks to the depth of intellectual talent in our country, and the intellectual rigor of our entire higher educational system, that the protests at our most august and selective institutions of higher learning are often indistinguishable from those performed by the Grievance Studies majors of BFE Community College.

Static Ping said...

Lunatics gonna loon.

tcrosse said...

The Hitler Youth's slogan was "Mind, Body, Spirit".

The Ballantine Beer slogan was "Purity, Body, Flavor".

Howard said...

I was just thinking you needed a younger Benny Hill with a goofy hat

Howard said...

Aristotle slogan: earth, air fire, water

Anonymous said...

Christy: I eagerly went to my first and only feminist gathering in Autumn, 1975, shortly after arriving at college. I've never had any reason to revisit that first impression.

A year later for me. Essentially a gossip session about men and relationships for women who liked to think they were way too intelligent, way to well-educated, and way too woke to waste their lives gossiping about men and relationships. (My daughter informs me that, 40 years later, they were still at it.)

It was boring so I left.

Howard said...

Hopefully more frivolity of Title 9 will help kill off the crappy parts.

tcrosse said...

The Royal Navy had much better hats. We had much better ships.

Dave Begley said...

How did these nuts get into Harvard? Answer: They got rejected at Creighton!

Caligula said...

The purpose of Title IX apparently is not to prohibit discrimination based on sex, but to provide a handy legal tool for harrassment and/or vengeance.

Et tu, feminism?

Paddy O said...

Isn't it part of the legal profession to use any technique that is legal and effective in pursuit of the cause?

That's what these students are doing. They're taking advantage of what is available to them in ways that have been effective in contemporary social policy.

The language of grievance, the filing of complaints, etc. are a strategy. No different than how a lawyer uses language in front of a jury. Some even show a lot of emotion. They don't necessarily believe in either either emotion or content, but their job is to take advantage of both human and legal nature.

Don't like what the students are doing? Change the law. The laws change, new strategies have to be used.

Levi Starks said...

The desire to be important seems to be much stronger than the desire to be functional.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Anybody think there's a connection between ‘New Age’ beliefs being common among both religious and nonreligious Americans and this new-found willingness by certain groups to make up lies defending principles the NewAge just happens to secretly, and not-so-secretly, advocate?"

Maybe there is a connection, since neither believing in New Age nonsense nor believing that Kavanaugh is a sexual predator requires proof of even the flimsiest kind.

Since the Ivies have long favored nebulous criteria such as "character" and "likableness" over proven metrics of brainpower to enter their hallowed halls, I don't see why their faculty and students couldn't simply give over to whatever virtue signaling and "feelz" bullshit they latch onto.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Atticus Finch was a traitor to women: he defended a man accused of rape. We need to ban the book at the very least.

And don't even ask about the people who defended the Scottsboro boys.

Seeing Red said...

The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life....


Via Insty:



Female Reporters #LiterallyShaking after Trump Treats Them Exactly Like Male Reporters

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

In support of survivors of sexual assault, @TCU_SGA set up in front of the Founder's statue today to promote the It's On Us campaign. It's On Us is a nation-wide initiative that aims to stop cisgender white males from getting their cum On Us.

DeepRunner said...

So when they become lawyers, will they check their concerns or morals at the door if they end up having to serve as an attorney for an accused person? Will they be interested in "empowerment," at that point?

nec sapientia motus.

Rick said...

Martha said...
Commenter on Crimson article claims the student filing the Title IX is an not a law student but an undergrad majoring in Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality and African American studies. That would make more sense.


The Crimson reports 48 people signed a petition saying they filed Title IX complaints, it seems unlikely none were law students.

I'd like to see that petition.

Christy said...

Thanks Angel-Dyne, nice to know I wasn't alone.

Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength? Promoting the timidity and delicacy of women and running to the authorities with specious, backhanded complaints — what lowly, destructive activism!

I aspire to strength! Remembering that early feminist gathering brought back to mind an early frat boy encounter. I was walking across campus with a new friend from the dorm. I remember I was styling a slinky green & black jumpsuit, wearing high-heeled espadrilles, convinced I had a prettier Cher thing going on. My friend V was a very tall blond in short shorts. Just as we strolled past a frat house a boy bounced off the porch and wrapped his arms around one of V's legs. I drove my foot into his delicate parts and we walked off leaving him sprawled across the lawn. We didn't feel the need to report it. Didn't figure it would happen again.

Lucien said...

If the Law School were to bar those accused of crimes (never mind convicted) then wouldn’t that have a disparate impact on People Of Color, further marginalizing and othering them?

The complainants are thus clearly racist, and should be outed and driven from campus.

Darrell said...

Shut down Harvard and give the land and buildings to the local Indian tribe. Tell them to not let Elizabeth Warren get closer than 2 miles. Harvard has become a useless 24-hour daycare facility. Students can fingerpaint anywhere. For a hell-of-a-lot less money.

Anonymous said...

Not to make excuses for Harvard and its PC culture, but there are almost 5,000 undergraduates at the college. You mathematicians can tell me what percentage - at a minimum - will be assholes like these.

Fernandinande said...

The Crimson reports 48 people signed a petition saying they filed Title IX complaints, it seems unlikely none were law students.

With about 20K total studentia, those 48 are about 2.8 std-deviations crazier than average.

CWJ said...

"Anyway, I've had that problem with feminism for close to half a century, but I still care about salvaging the word. Why give it away to people who are undermining the very cause that matters to you?"

Ah, but "marriage."

Steve M. Galbraith said...

This is a good opportunity for the Harvard law faculty to hold a teach-in where they correct the misunderstanding of these students about what Title IX means.

Afterwards Santa can come in and ask the students what they want for Christmas. And to prove that not all old white men are bad.

It is impossible to caricature these people and these times.

BrianE said...

During the hearing, I was struck by a comment Mrs. Ford had made about one of the few recollections she had of her alleged assault.
"Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two and having fun at my expense.."I was underneath one of them, while the two laughed," she said, in the most chilling moment of the hearing. "Two friends having a really good time with one another."- Mrs. Ford.

Now a cynic might wonder if attempted rape usually involves gales of laughter, since we've been lectured for years how rape is more about power than sex, based on the 1975 book "Against Our Will" by Susan Brownmiller.

"But according to pyschologists, what this notion did well was to promote the causes of social justice and gender equality. What it did poorly was to explain rape. So now, at least according to some/most of the psychological community, rape is once again about sex."
"Contemporary feminist scholars, alert to the limitations of the ‘rape is about power’ dogma, have also risen to the challenge of providing a more nuanced, empirically based and hence useful understanding of rape. For example, a recent paper by Beverly McPhail of the University of Houston seeks to knit together several feminist theories of rape into a new comprehensive model. In a useful and poignant reminder that the political is personal, she notes that rape is both “a political, aggregate act whereby men as a group dominate and control women as a group,” and “a very personal, intimate act in which the body of a singular person is violated by another person(s).”"
https://www.psychologytoday...
So taking that theory at face value, rape by one man is rape by all men. It seems to me feminism is all about power, not so much empowerment.

Richard Dolan said...

"I hope it is true that law students know better than to engage in this maneuver and that they are leaning into strength and readying themselves to confront the roughness of the real world."

There are those who will say that this use of Title IX is an exercise in strength -- using every tool at one's disposal to destroy the opposition, show no mercy, no squeamishness, just go for the kill and silence those who should be silenced. I have no doubt that the lovelies at Harvard behind this abuse of Title IX are thinking in just those terms.

That Title IX and Harvard's 'harassment' policy is open to this excellent example of a reductio ad absurdum is to be celebrated in its way. It highlights not only the gross unfairness of the process and the ease with which it is abused to achieve wildly illiberal enbds, but also the depth of the depravity to which university monocultures are ever so willing to descend.

The Crack Emcee said...

Steve M. Galbraith said...

"Atticus Finch was a traitor to women: he defended a man accused of rape. We need to ban the book at the very least.

And don't even ask about the people who defended the Scottsboro boys."

Oh, here we go - bring the black guys into it [Jazz Hands].

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

A.A.: "...I still care about salvaging the word. Why give it away to people who are undermining the very cause that matters to you?"

c.f. "marriage"

Michael K said...


Blogger Deep Runner said...
So when they become lawyers, will they check their concerns or morals at the door if they end up having to serve as an attorney for an accused person? Will they be interested in "empowerment," at that point?


I have to recount my experience again. I treated a guy who had been shot with a shotgun by an angry husband who found him in bed with his wife getting a blowjob.

The husband's lawyer asked me out to lunch before the trial for attempted murder.

One of his strategies was to continue the case until he got the affirmative action (Hispanic) assistant DA as prosecutor.

He told me "I'm a bleeding heart liberal but this is business."

He got his client off on "self defense" from a naked man in his bed,

SGT Ted said...

" Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength"

Because it's been far more lucrative to play helpless victim to manipulate men.

Yancey Ward said...

"Anyway, I've had that problem with feminism for close to half a century, but I still care about salvaging the word. Why give it away to people who are undermining the very cause that matters to you?"

I would have to argue that you have been giving it away the past 2 weeks, whether you are aware of this or not.

Anonymous said...

I am trying to figure out what is going on with the females we hear about so much. Like those above I thought they were all about being empowered and personally powerful, able to take care of themselves. Right now all we hear is "We are victims poor downtrodden us!" I don't get it.

Sam L. said...

Why are the feminists and students so AFRAID of Kavanaugh? Or is it "just an act"?

Yancey Ward said...

A cruelly neutral person, interested in salvaging the word "feminist" would have written at least one post since Thursday outlining her own thinking about the various inconsistencies and outright lies Ford has told. Instead, we got one post linking to Rachel Mitchell's brief analysis, along with some pablum about how Mitchell might just be seeing what she wants to see.

Trump is seeing it- Ford's story is in full blown collapse- that is why Trump brought out the mockery last night. Ford's story deserves mockery- a true feminist would understand that, unfortunately, all of those feminists are on the right.

Yancey Ward said...

Even the big liberal newspapers see the story is horseshit- that is why the argument for not confirming Kavanaugh has moved on.

Bay Area Guy said...

Ahh, fuck these Harvard law beta male ninnies.

We need Professor Kingsley to return and beat some ass!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Anyway, I've had that problem with feminism for close to half a century, but I still care about salvaging the word. Why give it away to people who are undermining the very cause that matters to you? I remember saying — 35 years ago — that I didn't want to call myself a feminist because I didn't want to wear a label with a meaning that wasn't clear and stable and within my control. But that never meant I didn't care about participating in the struggle over the meaning of the word. It's a big struggle, and I say never surrender.”

I asked yesterday, when your commenters were once again endlessly attacking liberal women and women who believed Ford as being feminists, “just what is a feminist”. No one responded. I don’t think they know, but instead imagine what it is because they are afraid of the strength of independent women, how society is becoming more equitable and the decline of the Patriarchy.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

These students are young and they mistakenly think they are exhibiting strength by this action. When they gain some maturity, they will understand that confronting one’s foe face on is more empowering.

Deb said...

"Maybe it is time to activate the Omega 13 Never give up....never surrender...."

DBQ, thank you for that.

Etienne said...

"The constitution of the family organization, which is founded in the divine ordinance, as well as in the nature of things, indicates the domestic sphere as that which properly belongs to the domain and functions of womanhood."

I support this message

iowan2 said...

Are these the same snow flakes that demand felons get a pass on job applications? If Kananaugh were convicted and served his time, would these same children welcome him with open arms?
Adults really need to tell these overgrown adolescents to shut up and study, leave the important stuff to the adults.

tomaig said...

"unfit" as a verb?

stevew said...

Did Malia Obama sign on to the petition?

-sw

Michael K said...


Blogger Sam L. said...
Why are the feminists and students so AFRAID of Kavanaugh? Or is it "just an act"?


I just started reading Militant Normals" and it is pretty funny. Schlicter, the retired Army colonel and lawyer who wrote it had a whole career as a Trump hater on CNN for a while. Then he began to sense that the left was AFRAID of Trump.

Finally he was on a Skype hookup with a Don Lemon interview where he was the designated Trump hater and, when he said something about Hillary being an enabler of her husband, they cut him off the air.

I think I'm going to enjoy the book.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Oh, here we go - bring the black guys into it"

I would never do that. You people are special, and off limits.

hstad said...

AA states, paraphrasing - "...I hope that law students know better..." - LOL! They are part of a coddled community who believes in their superiority and follow, like sheep, the dejour political narrative of the Left! AA - that is a wishful thought you expressed, will never happen in these bastions of Leftism.

n.n said...

Harvard is, apparently, a hotbed of diversity or color judgments. Well, at least these students are not purported to be legal minds. There are law professors to pass #Judgment and file their beliefs. Apparently, they number over 900 and form a social consensus.

readering said...

No one at Harvard was afraid of Kavanaugh. It was malicious.

readering said...

As a Yalie I freely accuse Harvard kids of malice

Seeing Red said...

These students are young and they mistakenly think they are exhibiting strength by this action. When they gain some maturity, they will understand that confronting one’s foe face on is more empowering.


That’s bullshit. They’ll whine and cry victim because they won’t be able to make cogent arguments.

JaimeRoberto said...

I'm surprised that a Yale grad would stoop to teach at such an academically inferior school as Harvard, but working with the mentally disabled is another feather in his cap. He really is a choirboy.

readering said...

That's one way to put it

buwaya said...

You can't do anything about this, or much else, until you have a position of power in these institutions. There is no way to adjust the meaning of "feminism" or anything else. Otherwise.

And its a hierarchy, in education, the popular or dominant opinions from the top universities flow down into the grade schools.

Retired professors, however talented, are not going to do it. Neither are conservative hobby-journals. Nor blogs.

In terms of determining the state of the future these fanatical, influential children are more powerful than anyone here. Consider how much deference they get. That's for a reason.

MadTownGuy said...

Blogger ALP said...
(Quoting Ann Althouse) "Why don't activist, feminist women aspire to strength?"
*******************
"Been asking that for years and years. Can you imagine women like this as President, dealing with the likes of Putin? Me neither."

Imagine, if you will, President Hillary after negotiations with Vlad: "Why aren't I another $100 Mil ahead? Instead, I got nuthin'."

PM said...

Strunk and White: Drink, drank, drunk.

Steve Witherspoon said...

"Students Filed Title IX Complaints Against Kavanaugh to Prevent Him From Teaching at Harvard Law."

These students are idiotic social justice warriors and their nonsense should be publicly ridiculed and laughed out of existence.

Etienne said...

Bottom line: women just want to have coitus and get an abortion on demand.

readering said...

Bottom line: idiots come in all stripes.

Not Sure said...

Simple solution: Give these dainty young women a residential college of their own, somewhere apart from men but still within an easy walk to Harvard Square. No men in their classes or their dorms, and maybe not even on the faculty.

This place could be given its own name, too. A classy one, like, um, "Radcliffe."

Gahrie said...

Bottom line: idiots come in all stripes.

I agree. Doesn't he realize that all heterosexual sex is a tool of the Patriarchy designed to oppress and subjugate womyn?

readering said...

And here I was thinking it was how I was conceived--a great thing!.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Seeing Red said:
These students are young and they mistakenly think they are exhibiting strength by this action. When they gain some maturity, they will understand that confronting one’s foe face on is more empowering.


That’s bullshit. They’ll whine and cry victim because they won’t be able to make cogent arguments.


...THEN...they will literally kick you in the face, like the SJW 'man' did to the pro-life woman. (better put some ice on that)

Gahrie said...

And here I was thinking it was how I was conceived--a great thing!.


Only because the Patriarchy wants you to...throw off your chains syster!

readering said...

What kind of chains are syster chains?

Gahrie said...

What kind of chains are syster chains?

The ones forged by centuries of Patriarchal oppression of course. Rise up!