Arts and Palaver: June 2016

Why Does Melanie Boyd Remind Me of My Sweet
but Sex-hating, Buttinski Jewish Mother Who
Loved to Micromanage Everyone Else's Life?

"Grounding women’s emancipation, sexual and otherwise, on such a sweeping use of criminal punishment and civil incapacitation (e.g., expulsion from college with a transcript marking one as a sexual wrongdoer) has led feminist reformers to take several stances typically thought to be hallmarks of social conservatism. They are seeking social control through punitive and repressive deployments of state power. They are criminalizing as a first rather than a last resort to achieving social change. They are affirming indifference to the punishment of innocent conduct. They have moved well to the right of civil-liberties-oriented liberalism in their advocacy for swift and sure punishment unimpeded by due process restraints."

- Janet Halley

Melanie Boyd, btw, please see my heartfelt note to you in all caps at the base of this page, thank you. Oh, and to all who stop by, I included a list below of actual studies on female sexual aggression. As for me, I've been sexually aggressive my whole life and loved every moment of it. The Catherine MacKinnon viewpoint (wellspring of the Melanie Boyd sex-negative world) that depends on the woman always being the passive and coerced participant is both inaccurate and silly, and btw only a concept that a woman who fears and hates sex could have imagined in the first place. And to all you out there who do fear and hate sex, that's fine, just go have your own party and stop trying to enforce your viewpoints on the rest of us. Pretty please?

Sex-Negative
"Culture Activist"

Before we get on to the business of Melanie Boyd of Yale, the miss warm-and-fuzzy-aw-shucks Ivy League "sexual culture activist" and spokesperson for Affirmative Consent--who bills it as a harmless and sensible all-American pursuit that wouldn't hurt a sex starved fly--I note that the below snippet of blog commentary was cropped from a long thread connected to one of many debates on Huffington Post concerning the application of Affirmative Consent (AC) as a universal constant on college campuses across the United States. Perhaps it's just me, but I continually find it odd that certain heterosexual white women crowing about AC as a must-have on college campuses and in American bedrooms appear to see AC policy and law as a one-way street. If not, then why do they never discuss AC in terms of having to acquire or seek prior consent from their male partner for various acts of sex? How about just one, "Is it okay if I stick my finger up your ass, Bob?" or "I made sure to ask Rudolpho last night if I could kiss his throbbing member." No, not one. It's invariably about their obedient, well-trained male partner attempting to seek, or failing to seek (oh no, release the hounds!), ongoing stage-based prior sexual consent from them.

Might a few weeks of psychoanalysis reveal this unfair circumstance to be the result of narcissist power trips? Or perhaps a subconscious misandry that smugly grins each time their naked male partner quizzes with yet another "Will that be okay, schmoopy?" Or could it be a nurtured inheritance from a matriarchal micromanaging mother who bullied the emasculated father into begging for sex? That's one way to assure sexual dominance.

What do you think, my dear and precious Yale sex authorities? Your Melanie Boyd, working to institutionalize neurosis, has figured it out, and that's obvious when she states: "Determining consent post facto in a disciplinary hearing may be difficult (and disciplinary boards will sometimes get it wrong), but in media res agreement is clear." WELL YEAH! We know, Mel. No fooling honey! But the dark side of AC isn't about reality or normal passion-building sexual behavior, it's about sexual politics that favor one gender while punishing another, and about creating snares for that targeted gender--not to mention inflating sexual assault statistics to reinforce the notion of "campus rape epidemic."

In media res, agreement for sex surrounds us. Every night, millions of college students all across this great land are having sex, and hopefully darn good sex full of passionate aggression on the part of both parties. But there is no camera in the bedroom, my friends. We cannot micro-parse the beautiful language of healthy sex into a theoretically infinite number of affirmative consent infractions--not without a political agenda.

The core "gotcha"
legal snake in the grass
of Affirmative Consent

Btw I could be wrong on all counts about the real psychological motivations behind this apparent one-way consent street, but when the one-way AC street gets paved, and paved quite often, one begins to wonder as to the true motivation some people have for cheering on a circumstance backed by an authoritative gavel of punishment that only serves the needs of an elite victims-in-wait club--after all, doesn't a single misstep by a male when climbing the AC sex ladder towards paradise create an instant victim of sexual violence? Yes, it does! No question. Just nail down any AC feminist type in academia or elsewhere and she'll tell you, Yale man: You fucked up! Betty Blamethem says that four months ago on a Saturday you attempted digital penetration at 10:32 AM between two separate acts of coitus and heavy petting but you failed to acquire sufficient consent from her before said attempt (real AC court case -- start here and explore further).

Gotcha! Sexual violence will not be tolerated at this university. OMG! On to the sex-crimes star chamber, the UWC for fair and balanced processing (not to be confused with "due process"). As at other colleges, your accuser might be behind a screen to "prevent further trauma," and your questions are naturally ignored or unfairly limited, exculpatory evidence can be denied, and a room packed with angry sex negatives and their sycophants are staring you down as if you were The Night Stalker.

At many colleges, you are a rapist until proven a rapist. Justice is served.

As a matter of fact, see my comment and link below regarding the American Law Institute's rejection of a profoundly sex negative penal code modeled on stage-based sex snares. This might shake you into cold reality, guys and gals. Major AC players like Melanie Boyd of Yale want America dancing to their sexual power song, and so many like her with so much to gain won't stop singing it. Might we conjecture that the vision of hundreds of new sex crime courts on a state and local level is one that creates multiple orgasms in the sex negative universe?

Btw, why does this young woman have such a problem with our fuzzball Melanie? Does she doubt her genuine concern?... No, that's not it. I recommend a close read. I'm afraid Melanie is once again acting like my sex-hating, buttinski Jewish mother. Will she ever stop?

Back to the precious ones driving the one-way street. Perhaps in their minds, AC legal statutes now on the books in a few states absolve them from any responsibility. I can't speak for them all. Technically, the law does not absolve them of responsibility, however, when it comes to prosecution and expulsion, or to any punitive action for alleged stage-based AC violation, the record shows that males are the primary beneficiaries of this warm and fuzzy policy by a ratio of 100 to 1 at least?

On to the sex crimes star chamber... Your accuser might be behind a screen to "prevent further trauma," and your questions are naturally ignored or unfairly limited, exculpatory evidence can be denied, and a room packed with angry sex negatives and their sycophants are staring you down as if you were The Night Stalker.

I wonder how that happens? Could Miss Ali tell us?

But heck, Melanie Boyd of Yale might tell you, if pressed after class over a few martinis, that all those fucking man bastards it coming, especially since her brand of feminist "sexual assault theory" primarily redefines all male sexual behavior as assault or theoretical assault depending on the alleged victim's point of view (read her work on this issue, not just her smiley face articles). Melanie is, after all, a student of Catherine MacKinnon (see below).

Affirmative Consent Treat
For Ali's Boyfriend

As for Miss Ali above, I feel sorry for her poor mutt of a boyfriend. Imagine him tirelessly and nervously asking her time and time if everything is okay. Can I do this, Ali? How about that, Ali? Do you want me to kiss your butt? Would you mind, Ali? OMG! The very presence of a man like that would freeze my vagina shut. How the hell can either one of them see this as sexy? And how the devil can he maintain an erection if he's focused constantly on getting the AC formula permission thing down straight? I can imagine a bit of curiosity and rules adjustment in the very beginning, but to have to go through this ordeal indefinitely?

It's weird and sick, and it serves only one type of personality, and not one I would own much less defend.

BTW, if I were on the college sex tribunal and looking for opportunities to dig for infractions, I might see the above statement as an admission of sexual assault, and most likely, of many counts of sexual assault. All part of the evidence package, because Miss Ali fails to note here, and in other posts on the subject, that she either seeks or obtains any form of prior consent from her anonymous male partner. Does she, or doesn't she? Surely, if this man were to make accusations of AC-based assault against her, days or months later, Miss Ali would be hard pressed to prove she obtained prior consent for her many acts of sexual behavior, even for so much as a kiss on the finger (which AC philosophy might term "a clear act of sexual violence").

Personally, I think Miss Ali might be shilling on behalf of bigger AC tuna, but who knows.

Dare Disagree With Me
And I'll Label You

Not surprisingly, the tribe of sex negatives, victim cultists, and Amanda Marcotte (btw who asserts that anyone who disagrees with her on AC issues is "anti-feminist") wannabes are clamoring for the legal and institutional stamp of AC across the board asap. On comment threads and forum boards on Internet these persons pose and prattle about voiding the "male rapist" U.S Constitution, the need for special national sex courts that disallow juries and due process, and last but not least, the widespread and irrevocable prison-hard slam down of AC into the non-college world complete with arm-long lists of codified AC sex offenses--alleged non-consensual hand holding just a misdemeanor (punished only by sex offender registration and a stiff fine).

**** If you think the above sounds exaggerated or ridiculous, guys and gals, think again.

You most likely don't know about a movement by sex negative AC feminists within the American Law Institute to create a new model penal code that redefines a broad array of sexual behaviors and actions (from hand holding to final thrust) as jail-time criminal, i.e., if prior consent by the alleged victim cannot be proved (and of course, it can't). AC cheer leaders just like Melanie Boyd of Yale were lobbying for this with all guns blazing. But they failed. Prominent attorneys and judges in the ALI, many of them legendary feminist women, thumpingly rejected the punitive world of the Melanie Boyds. And who would think--despite Amanda Marcotte's declaration that they must all be anti-feminist, rape culture yahoos to have dared such an opinion!!!

But shucks and heck, like Melanie Boyd says in her Huffington Post article, it's all warm and fuzzy stuff, this affirmative consent apple pie. It's no problem. Want a slice? It's just all about respect for women, right? It's that simple... Right? Hmmmm. Well, I will affirm for the record, that I would never date much less have major sex with a man who did not treat me with respect. But I wonder if Melanie has it straight. I mean, does she have the whole picture here clearly in her noggin? Let's take a quote from the ALI opponents of AC doctrine to get a really good look at the dark side, the side Melanie ignores, the side that accused must face in college sex tribunals or in the feminist affirmative consent-based sex court of the future:

"At every stage of every physical relationship, the “perpetrator” is at risk with no safe harbor of any type. If the initiator got positive agreement “sufficient to show affirmative permission” (Discussion Draft No. 2, Substantive Material, at 54) to initiate a kiss, the initiator is still at risk because the accuser can always counter by asserting, “I didn’t say you could kiss me that way.” If the initiator got positive agreement the next identical kiss because, “I didn’t say you could kiss me twice.” The draft acknowledges that its standard “requires the fact finder to focus on the existence of consent regarding each of the disputed sex acts.” Id. and Section 213.0(3)."

- American Law Institute Members In Opposition to The Affirmative Consent Penal Code

Yes, "every stage" and "disputed sex acts." And here is the rub, ladies and gents. The warm and fuzzy Melanie Boyds of the world will act as if the above just isn't true. All a myth.

But in fact, it is true, all too terribly and frighteningly true.

______________________

An excellent debate wherein Wendy McElroy

exposes fraudulent statistics used to support the notion of rape culture

Compare the words and behavior of Nancy vs. Alexandra below

OMG, dig this AC bozo! The good doctor says it must be verbal?

One last thing, to Melanie Boyd and all the other Affirmative Consenters, young or old, who are trying really really hard to define the behavior of American women in the bedroom according to their own biases, need for control, and psychological issues they have with men and sex in general:

SEXUALLY ACTIVE AND SENSIBLE AMERICAN WOMEN WILL NEVER VIEW THE KIND OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THEY DESIRE, ENJOY, AND FREELY CHOOSE TO PARTAKE IN WITH MALE PARTNERS OF THEIR CHOICE AS A SERIES OF DANGEROUS AND POTENTIALLY VIOLENT ACTS OF CEASELESS PREDATION THAT MUST BE RESTRAINED WITH PUNITIVE RULES AND LAWS.

I am not a follower of Catherine M, Andrea D, or any other role model haters of this ilk. I know how to give consent. I don't hate men or women. I hate assholes and hypocrites, narcissists and control freaks.

And I mean it sincerely.

_______________________

Note the underpinnings of AC below by that dear Catherine MacKinnon:

From http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-rape/

MacKinnon Triumphant - Affirmative
Consent is Her Fondest Dream Come True

"Recent scholarship includes some novel approaches to the legal definition of rape. MacKinnon, for instance, has recommended that a broadened understanding of force (as including hierarchies of power) should be supplemented not by a nonconsent requirement, but by a standard of “welcomeness.” A consent standard, she observes, incorporates gender hierarchy by assuming that men initiate sexual contact which women then either accept or refuse, whereas a welcomeness standard suggests the centrality of “choice, mutuality, and desire” (2005, 243). She explains her approach as follows:

The idea here is not to prohibit sexual contact between hierarchical unequals per se but to legally interpret sex that a hierarchical subordinate says was unwanted in the context of the forms of force that animate the hierarchy between the parties. To counter a claim that sex was forced by inequality, a defendant could (among other defenses) prove the sex was wanted—affirmatively and freely wanted—despite the inequality, and was not forced by the socially entrenched forms of power that distinguish the parties. (247-48)"

The above is the origin of AC. Good luck to those defendants attempting to disprove socially entrenched power presence while arguing the sex was affirmatively desired.

Catherine knows that's impossible. Thus, Affirmative Consent is born and the rest will be history.

FEMALE SEXUAL AGGRESSION STUDIES

(courtesy of Free Thoughts Blog)

Aizeman & Kelley, 1988 – 14% of men (and 29% of women) reported they had been forced to have intercourse against their will

Anderson 1998 – Survey of 461 women (general population) 43% secured sexual acts by verbal coercion; 36.5% by getting a man intoxicated; threat of force – 27.8%, use of force – 20%; By threatening a man with a weapon – 8.9%.

Anderson, 1999 – 43% of college women admitted to using verbal or physical pressure to obtain sex

Anderson and Aymami (1993) 28.5% of women reported the use of verbal coercion, 14.7% had coerced a man into sexual activity by getting him intoxicated and 7.1% had threatened or used physical force.

Fiebert & Tucci (1998) – 70% of male college students reported experiencing some type of harassment, pressuring, or coercion by a female

Hannon, Kunetz, Van Laar, & Williams (1996) – 10% of surveyed male college students reported experiencing a completed sexual assault perpetrated by a female intimate partner

Hogben, Byrne & Hamburger (1996) Lifetime prevalence of 24% for women having made a man engage in sexual activity against his will.

Krahe, Waizenhofer & Moller (2003) – 9.3% of women reported having used aggressive strategies to coerce a man into sexual activities. Exploitation of the man’s incapacitated state: 5.6% Verbal pressure: 3.2%. Physical force: 2%. An additional 5.4% reported attempted acts of sexual aggression

Larimer, Lydum, Anderson and Turner (1999) 20.7% of male respondents had been the recipients of unwanted sexual contact in the year prior to the survey. Verbal pressure was experienced by 7.9%, physical force by 0.6% and intoxication through alcohol or drugs by 3.6%.

Muehlenhard and Cook (1988) 23.8% of male respondents had engaged in unwanted sexual activity as a result of threat or physical force, and 26.8% reported unwanted sexual contact as a result of verbal pressure. For unwanted intercourse, the prevalence rates were 6.5% for physical force and 13.4% for verbal pressure.

O’Sullivan, Byers and Finkelman (1998) Overall incidence of 8% of women reporting sexual aggression for the academic year preceding the survey. Intercourse due to use of threat or physical force 0.5%, by use of alcohol or drugs 0.5% and attempted intercourse due to threat or use of physical force also 0.5%. Of male respondents, 18.5% reported having experienced sexual aggression. Specifically, 3.8% reported experiencing unwanted sexual intercourse due to use of alcohol or drugs, and 2.3% reported attempted intercourse due to threat or use of physical force.

Poppen and Segal (1988) 14% of women reported lifetime incident(s) of perpetration (including both verbal coercion and physical assault)

Russell and Oswald (2001) – 18% of women in a college sample reported engaging in sexually coercive behaviors, ranging from verbal threats and pressure to use of physically aggressive tactics.

Russell and Oswald (2002) 44% of college men in their sample reported being subjected to a sexually coercive tactic.

Shea (1988) Women’s reported lifetime prevalence – 19% for verbal coercion; 1.2% reported having physically assaulted a man.

Sisco, Becker, Figueredo, & Sales (2005) – A third of women reported that they had verbally harassed a person or pressured the person into performing a sexual act that the person felt uncomfortable with while roughly one in ten performed a coercive sexual act that would be considered illegal (e.g., sexual acts that involved a person who was unable or unwilling to consent)

Sorensen, Stein, Siegel, Golding and Burnam (1987) Lifetime prevalence rate of 9.4% and an adult prevalence rate of 7.2% for men’s sexual victimization (male self-reports).

Struckman-Johnson (1988) – 2% of 355 female college students reported they had forced sex on a dating partner at least once in their lifetime.

Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson (1998) – 43% of college men reported experiencing a coercive incident, of which 36% reported unwanted touch and 27% reported being coerced into sexual intercourse.

Where does this research lead us? Most obviously, to the conclusion that female sexual aggression in relationships is far more common than commonly held.

____________

I Said “Yes” and I Meant “Yes,” but Dean Boyd Told Me It's Not What I ...

https://callmemiss.com/.../i-said-yes-and-i-meant-yes-but-dean-boyd-told-me-its-not-...

Jun 14, 2013 - Allie picks up the story as Melanie Boyd, a scholar on gender issues and assistant dean of student affairs at Yale University, opines ... away from targeting just sexual violence to thinking about consensual sex,” Boyd said, “and ...

Missing: ~~theory~~

Yale program to shift sexual assault culture goes beyond rape ...

https://www.insidehighered.com/.../yale-program-shift-sexual-assault...

Inside Higher Ed

Jun 5, 2013 - Making sure students know what sexual violence is and how to prevent it is of course critical on college campuses, said Boyd (whose own ...

Missing: ~~theory~~

Retooling the Scripts: An Interview with Melanie Boyd - Broad ...

www.broadrecognitionyale.com/.../retooling-the-scripts-an-interview-with-melanie-bo...

Dec 19, 2013 - Melanie Boyd is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Yale, as well as ... Boyd's scholarly work focuses on sexual violence, victimhood, and other ... feminist theoretical models—some new, some longstanding—about sexual ...

Yale considers launching harassment site - Yale Daily News

yaledailynews.com/blog/.../yale-considers-launching-harassment-site/

Yale Daily News

Apr 22, 2016 - Melanie Boyd, assistant dean of student affairs and director of the office of ... co-founder and co-director of Unite Against Sexual Assault at Yale, .... trust in A. This partially explains why Alinsky's theory of People Power and the ...

Melanie Boyd - Huffington Post

www.huffingtonpost.com/melanie-boyd/

The Huffington Post

Dec 17, 2014 - Melanie Boyd works on ending sexual violence by creating a more positive sexual culture. An academic and activist, she believes in putting feminist theory to ... of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University.

[PDF]Leadership Exchange: Sexual Violence Prevention on ... - President

https://president.uoregon.edu/.../leadership_exchange-sexual_vi...

University of Oregon

standards for campus compliance of Title lX sexual harassment, examining the ..... theory, and their own rich experiences of campus culture for the assignment. ... c'Today, Yale College ... Melanie Boydis assistant dean of student affairs in the.

[PDF]PRESENTATIONS Addressing Sexual Violence Prevention

www.nyscha.org/files/2015/SexualViolencePreventionSessions.pdf

prevention initiatives are appropriately timed, evidence and theory-based, and address ... Discuss relationship violence, sexual assault, and stalking prevention on campus. ... Melanie Boyd, PhD, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Yale College.

Yale moves to combat 'historic' sexual misconduct rates | Daily Mail ...

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Yale-moves-combat-historic-sexual-misconduct-rates...

Daily Mail

Mar 24, 2013 - Yale battles 'historic' levels of sexual assault at Ivy League school with campus ...Melanie Boyd, the assistant dean of student affairs, told the ...

Yale's "due process" procedures after anyone is accused:

An independent attorney is hired as an “impartial fact-finder.” That person interviews both parties and tries to gather “any pertinent documents and interview any relevant witnesses.” The fact-finder has a brief 21 days to complete the work.

The attorney’s findings are then given to a five-person panel. Within five days a hearing is held. That’s the extent of “trial prep.” Neither party can question the fact-finder directly for clarity or confusion. Written responses to the fact-finder's report aren't allowed. Additional documents or evidence in response to the fact-finder's report aren't allowed. In this case, the “cop” is all-powerful.

There is no right to discovery. There is no right to know of exculpatory evidence. There is no statute of limitations. There is no right for the defendant to confront his or her accuser. The “complainant and the respondent” do not appear together.

Each side can speak for just 10 minutes. Neither is allowed to call any witnesses – only the panel can do that and if it does, only the panel can ask them questions. The panel votes via secret ballot. Majority wins.

No explanation is required.

Wednesday

Melanie Boyd Puts Smiley Face on Punitive Sex Crime Tribunals : The Yale Feminist Who Theorizes Sexual Assault Issues In Her Spare Time and Supports Universal Application of Affirmative Consent in American Life As a Path to "Feminist Sexual Power"