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You can violate Title IX by asking another student out on a date? Do you agree.

[nationalreview.com]

Edited 12/29/18: Interestingly, the NR published this statement on the 27th. It adds important context and withdraws the original article.

“Editor’s Note: This article and its headline originally stated that a male student at the University of Missouri was found in violation of Title IX because he asked a female student on a date and “was perceived as having power over her.” The article accurately quoted the deposition of the Title IX case, but it left out relevant details. In fact, the male student had made repeated, unwelcome advances toward the female student and was found in violation of Title IX for stalking her. He is suing the university and alleging that its Title IX office engaged in arbitrary enforcement and racial discrimination, but his lawsuit does not contest the fact pattern left out of this article. We are retracting the article and we regret the error. The article, including the initial editor’s note, is below.”

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Rob1948 7 Dec 27
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6 comments

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2

We are going to legislate ourselves into extinction.

1

Each case should be taken on its own merit. Title IX was meant as a protection, as some people do not know how accept no as an answer (paricularly among males, but not limited to). They continue to pursue, threaten, retaliate, annoy long beyond what is acceptable. In the case of the women in the article, two possible explantions exist.

  1. The law was applied incorrectly and interpreted incorrectly, or;

  2. The larger male was intentionally, or unintentionally using his size in a percieved threatening manner (proximity was a threat. his vocalizations were percieved to be threatening. his posture was percieved to be threatening, etc.). Women have been victims of male harrassment forever. That is partially why Title IX is there. Large men do not realize the level of threat and intimidation they pose. Not always their fault.

1

Goodness knows there are precious few laws in place to protect women from assault, and watching the Violence Against Women Act die an unnatural death isn't helping. The Article in the National Review is sexist as hell. I seriously doubt if women are suffering because scary men are afraid to ask them on dates, and if a woman does feel deprived by a lack of dates, she can do the asking.

Deb57 Level 8 Dec 28, 2018
1

Many times all the facts are not portrayed correctly. If it's simply a matter of him asking out a woman who said no then this will be overturned. If there was a pattern of harassment and other such facts involved then I can understand the ruling. Either way I'm sure this is not the final say.

lerlo Level 8 Dec 28, 2018
2

I am skeptical of the reasoning of anything in The National Review.

1

Was he hulking over her when he did it? It is menacing when a giant man stands over you and 'asks' things. A man knows when he's intimidating, it is just when he's called out that they're response is 'I didn't do anything I just innocently asked, these people are being mean'. The worst part is it makes men look bad. Good, decent men.

A man, large or not, does not necessarily know he is being threatening,. A woman can be, because she was abused in some manner, hypersensitive to any interaction with a male. What she perceives because of her experience can be threatening when the interaction, from the male perspective, is anything but.

I have known a number of women that were abused as children or raped as adults. Their fear and anger can be palpable and any personal interaction is viewed as threatening because of their experiences. They have to work at maintaining an even response and, on a good day, can do so. But, on days where they are stressed, they sometimes will respond inappropriately to personal interactions that are otherwise benign.

So, no. Men do not always know when someone might feel threatened by their presence or actions. And, the same applies to women.

One Halloween night, when my son was two, a neighbor dressed as a cat, with makeup to look like a cat. She scared my son. As he backed off, she kept approaching him saying “Robert, it’s me, ....” several times. My son kept backing away, terrified. She did not realize the impact she had until we were finally able to get in between them.

She did not recognize her impact right away even though he was obviously scared. It’s equally naive to think every man knows he is intimidating in benign social interactions.

That said, I’m not saying that there are not men who are intimidating in their approach to others, men and women. There are. It’s just not every man.

@Rob1948 Did you miss the part where I said it made men look bad, good decent men. Implying that it isn't every man.

@CommonHuman No. I did not. Your statement “A man knows when he’s intimidating,” is clear. Your later distinction implies that decent men don’t intimidate. It does not imply that all men don’t know. The quoted statement is unequivocal. You say that all men know. They don’t. Decent men don’t intimidate knowingly is accurate. But, decent men can intimidate unknowingly as well. That is my point. Meant don’t always know.

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