+34A lawsuit alleging gang rape at a Cornell fraternity has prompted mothers to share advice on raising sons, but critics ask why fathers and male role models are not leading the conversation.
A lawsuit alleging that a twenty-year-old woman was passed around like a blow-up doll at a Cornell University fraternity party in autumn 2024 has sparked global debate about consent and male responsibility.
Cornell Fraternity Case Sparks Consent Debate
The woman, drunk and allegedly given ketamine, had reportedly agreed to a threesome but her lawyer maintains she was not sober enough to consent. The alleged victim says a crude invitation was sent to a group chat of more than 50 men advertising free pussy upstairs. Another message asked Shop still open? in the early hours.
She concluded there was no way for her to escape a room full of predatory men, according to the lawsuit against the students she accuses of pressuring her into drugs and raping her, and against Cornell, which she says failed to protect her. All deny wrongdoing. Two of the seven men were reportedly expelled after she went to campus police, but none were arrested.
Five continued their education after variously writing essays about what they had done, serving short suspensions and attending workshops. The alleged victim dropped out of university and struggles with her mental health to the point that her lawyer says she is finishing university. Her story emerged just as freshers settled into British halls, leaving young women incandescent with rage and touching a deep nerve with older women.
Mothers Take On Rape Prevention
On social media, mothers are swapping advice on raising sons who would not just refrain from rape but would recognise a wrong message and intervene. Some advice is excellent, and the urge to act is understandable, yet it makes me angry and exhausted. How has rape prevention become another item on mothers to-do lists? Where are the celebrity dads, sports coaches, role models and male politicians who are usually keen to discuss sexual assault when perpetrators are immigrants?
Good men may be wary of speaking over women, but this is a job for all parents, not just half of them. The University of Bath this week announced an investigation into claims that members of a student sports club were overheard talking about spiking freshers drinks. Even if it was a tasteless joke, it is not funny.
The Office for Students found that one in seven British students finishing university reported suffering sexual violence, with men as well as women becoming victims. Freshers at many universities now sit through mandatory lessons on sexual consent and healthy relationships, but those cannot undo in an hour everything absorbed over 18 years, sometimes in their own homes.
Teaching Boys About Consent
It is hard to discuss this without alienating the majority of teenage boys who do not want to hurt anyone, feel vulnerable themselves and need help resisting peer pressure. That is precisely why they need to hear about consent from grown men who understand what it was like to be fourteen, horny and confused. Yet in too many homes mothers shoulder the burden of consent conversations, perhaps because they start in the nursery years.
You do not talk to a three-year-old about sex, but you can teach respect for feelings, stopping a game when someone is not enjoying it, and not taking what you want by force. Consent is above all a social skill. If fathers do not know how to raise these subjects, mothers are equally mortified but muddle through because they do not want their sons to endanger other people daughters or themselves.
It is what male role models do, however, that perhaps matters most. Boys learn by watching how the men they look up to treat partners, female colleagues and women on the street. They notice reactions to sexual assault allegations against a favourite celebrity or a wannabe president. As always with parenting, sometimes you try your best and it is not enough, but that does not make trying optional.
Men Challenge Male Violence
I suspect there are more than enough men eager to do the right thing, even if some are not sure what that is. At the Labour party conference in Liverpool this week, a fringe meeting hosted by More in Common on building bridges between women and men on tackling male violence was so packed that a crowd of both men and women stood outside, straining to hear from a noisy corridor.
Enough, an initiative that ropes in male student rugby players to preach on campus that this is not just a women issue, has been criticised by survivor organisations for promoting self-swab kits for rape victims, but it is right that culture for boys is formed among their peers. Across the Atlantic, it is now for the courts to decide whether what happened at Cornell meets New York bar for prosecution, with the local district attorney weighing charges.
But it is already clear that lives were ruined that night, that it was a tragedy, and a preventable one.
Sexual Assault Consent Education Male Role Models Rape Prevention
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NY Attorney General assigned as special prosecutor to investigate Cornell gang rape caseNew York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang rape at Cornell University, stating she lost faith in the local district attorney's handling of the case. The governor emphasized that the victim deserves a full and unbiased investigation, with the attorney general set to present evidence to a grand jury if necessary.
Read more »
Hochul Names Special Prosecutor in Cornell Rape Case as Documents UnsealedNew York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape case, hours after court documents detailing a Title IX investigation were unsealed.
Read more »
Cornell Rape Case Spurs Debate on Why Mothers, Not Men, Are Asked to Teach ConsentA lawsuit alleging gang rape at a Cornell fraternity has prompted mothers to share advice on raising sons, but critics ask why fathers and male role models are not leading the conversation.
Read more »
Hochul names Letitia James special prosecutor in Cornell gang rape caseNew York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang rape at Cornell University, saying she lost faith in local authorities after campus police failed to elevate the allegations to prosecutors.
Read more »