An evidence-free accusation causes one man to consider suicide
Elizabeth Dunn, the activist at Milddlebury College, does not seem to have even the slightest shred of remorse over her actions: She published a slapdash, evidence-free list accusing numerous male Middlebury students of rape and sexual assault, and she has thus far failed to substantiate any of the accusations on it in any way at all. It was a reckless and inexcusable decision, the kind of behavior that any moderately decent person should know is indefensible.
The College Fix recently published the account of one student who, so accused, says he ended up contemplating suicide: People on campus distanced themselves from him, he became depressed, he has been experiencing anxiety, and he has sought professional help as a result. The young man affirms that his sexual encounters on campus have all been accompanied by the ever-present specter of deliberate and unambiguous “consent” that marks so much of campus sexual culture these days: All of his partners gave him “verbal affirmation that they wanted to have sex,” he writes. Never the matter: Having been branded a rapist, his life has “changed forever,” he says. No kidding.
Behind the glowing profiles and ecstatic media coverage and the celebrity-driven hashtags, this is the side of the #MeToo movement you don’t always see. What began as a necessary and overdue reckoning with a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and assault has morphed into a fanatical and fact-free cross between a witch hunt and a religious crusade. One supposes it was only a matter of time before feminists, seizing the moment as only feminists can do, transformed a good movement into a really dismal one.
“I think the #MeToo movement is fantastic, and believe that those who assault others should be severely punished for their actions,” writes the victim of Dunn’s evidence-free list. “However, I hesitate to voice this opinion for fear of being called a hypocrite. I find myself in a hopeless and difficult position.” It is something to marvel at: A man who professes to be supportive of #MeToo has been cowed into keeping quiet about it because of it. Is it too much to ask for a little reflection and circumspection on the part of American social justice warriors? Maybe it is.
MORE: Student faces expulsion after publishing evidence-free list of alleged campus sexual assaulters
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