As you may have heard, the Independent Women’s Forum’s summer panel “Straight Talk: Honest Conversation about ‘Rape Culture’ and Sexual Violence” generated a great deal of thoughtful discussion about topics that are often emotionally difficult to address.
We tackled in particular the Obama Administration’s much-touted statistic that one in five women on campus is the victim of sexual assault. What is the origin of that number? Is this figure accurate? What kind of policies will be built on it if it is overblown?
We asked outstanding experts to speak about about the “rape culture” and the panic that is developing around the issue: “Factual Feminist” and AEI scholar Christina Hoff Sommers, prominent legal writer Stuart Taylor, the maverick feminist journalist Cathy Young, and Andrea Bottner, a lawyer and Bush appointee who is an expert on women’s issues internationally.
We realized at once that it was an important discussion, and we wanted to preserve it. That is the reason we have produced this recap booklet. We hope it will serve as a reference in future discussions of an issue that is going to be with us–indeed is likely to grow more intense–for some time.
Charlotte Hays
Director of Cultural Programs, Independent Women’s Forum
Download the Straight Talk PDF