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According to a recent study of 27 schools, about one-quarter of female undergraduates said they had experienced nonconsensual sex or touching since entering college, but most of the students said they did not report it to school officials or support services. Now Natasha Singer reports at the NYT that in an effort to give students additional options — and to provide schools with more concrete data — a nonprofit software start-up in San Francisco called Sexual Health Innovations has developed an online reporting system for campus sexual violence. One of the most interesting features of Callisto is a matching system — in which a student can ask the site to store information about an assault in escrow and forward it to the school only if someone else reports another attack identifying the same assailant. The point is not just to discover possible repeat offenders. In college communities, where many survivors of sexual assault know their assailants, the idea of the information escrow is to reduce students' fears that the first person to make an accusation could face undue repercussions.
"It's this last option that makes Callisto unique," writes Olga Khazan. "Most rapes are committed by repeat offenders, yet most victims know their attackers. Some victims are reluctant to report assaults because they aren't sure whether a crime occurred, or they write it off as a one-time incident. Knowing about other victims might be the final straw that puts an end to their hesitation—or their benefit of the doubt. Callisto's creators claim that if they could stop perpetrators after their second victim, 60 percent of campus rapes could be prevented." This kind of system is based partly on a Michigan Law Review article about "information escrows," or systems that allow for the transmitting of sensitive information in ways that reduce "first-mover disadvantage" also known to economists as the "hungry penguin problem". As game theorist Michael Chwe points out, the fact that each person creates her report independently makes it less likely they'll later be accused of submitting copycat reports, if there are similarities between the incidents.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 21 2015, @11:43AM
I know that I am inclined to back off, if some woman with a weapon challenges me. Although I'm not a psychopathic rapist type of guy, I imagine that most men would do the same. Walking down city streets, I've found myself behind a female at night. Being a guy, I may or may not take notice of that fact, but if that woman acts fearful, and especially if she challenges me, my reaction is to cross the street, or otherwise put some distance between us.
One instance (amusing in retrospect), I had spent the night at a bar, chatting up the waitress. She gave me an address, and told me to be there after 1:00. Turned out to be an apartment building, about 8 floors high, and her room number was on the 5th floor. The stair well was a little odd - you top one flight, you walk out into the hallway, and around to the next flight. On the third floor, I came face to face with some woman who seemed a bit irrational. She was holding a rather large butcher knife, 8 or 9 inches, maybe longer. She said something barely intelligible, something about "bothering me all the time". Hell, I did an about face, and got the hell out of dodge! That sweetheart two floor further up wasn't THAT SWEET! Whatever that other woman's problems were, she wasn't asking me for help, and I felt threatened, so it was none of my damned business.
A guy shows me a weapon, my fight or flight reaction tends to fight. A woman shows me the same weapon, my reaction tends to flight.
I know that I probably don't speak for all males, but that's me.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Francis on Saturday November 21 2015, @12:48PM
Running from women is, unfortunately, the safest strategy. No matter who starts it, the man is the one that's going to be arrested. Barring a slip up where there are actual witnesses willing to testify that the woman started it, the man is the default criminal to convict.
Same goes for domestic violence. If the wife is hitting you, the safest response is to put your arms across your chest and get the hell out of there before the police arrest you for domestic violence. Even then, it's a bit of a gamble that they won't arrest you anyways.
It's really about time that women started checking their privilege, because this is hardly the only area where they get unwarranted special rights.