2015.71: The Judo Lesson

My oldest child and I were standing at the meat counter. I bumped him sideways with my shoulder. Not enough to knock him over, just enough for him to notice. He retaliated with a little more velocity (because teenager, plus I’m bigger than him). I sidestepped, and he overbalanced. I caught his fall, but it was still very amusing to me (almost as amusing as the time he advised my brother, who was trying to open our securely locked front gate, “pull harder”).

This morning Scott Greenfield quotes Emily Bazelon, in Bazelon Forfeits Her Credibility:

“The discrepancy [between what is called rape on campus and what is called rape off-campus, Deborah Tuerkheimer] argues, diminishes the violation of victims outside universities, even though studies show they are actually more vulnerable to sexual assault than college students.”

Follow along:

1. There is an epidemic of rapes on campus, so

2. We broadened the definition of rape on campus, so

3. The discrepancy between definitions on campus and off diminishes the violation of victims outside universities, who are more vulnerable to rape than their undergraduate counterparts, so

4. We must broaden the definition of rape off campus rape allegations.