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| In what universe are the findings on sexual assault in universities 'good news'? | In what universe are the findings on sexual assault in universities 'good news'? |
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| Bettina Arndt and Andrew Bolt offered an absurd response to this week’s survey and important work by women tackling violence and harassment | |
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| Sat 5 Aug 2017 02.10 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 5 Aug 2017 02.11 BST | |
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| It’s usually wisest to ignore would-be culture warriors with ideas so outlying they make the black stump look like an inner city laneway. | It’s usually wisest to ignore would-be culture warriors with ideas so outlying they make the black stump look like an inner city laneway. |
| But when those views could be used to excuse or normalise or ignore the sexual assault of young people attending Australian universities, they really need to be countered. | But when those views could be used to excuse or normalise or ignore the sexual assault of young people attending Australian universities, they really need to be countered. |
| Climate sceptics are outliers too, persistently so. We know from that experience that constant misrepresentation of an uncomfortable, difficult reality can sow doubt and slow down, or even unravel, a hard-fought fact-based resolve to take action. | Climate sceptics are outliers too, persistently so. We know from that experience that constant misrepresentation of an uncomfortable, difficult reality can sow doubt and slow down, or even unravel, a hard-fought fact-based resolve to take action. |
| This week we saw the long-awaited results of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Change the Course survey into sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities. | This week we saw the long-awaited results of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Change the Course survey into sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities. |
| It found 6.9% of students had been sexually assaulted in 2015 or 2016, 1.6% of them at university or while travelling to and from. One in 10 female students had been sexually assaulted in that same period, 2.3% of them in a university setting. | It found 6.9% of students had been sexually assaulted in 2015 or 2016, 1.6% of them at university or while travelling to and from. One in 10 female students had been sexually assaulted in that same period, 2.3% of them in a university setting. |
| The report included excerpts from responses, story upon heartbreaking story of rape and assault after drunken parties, example after example of grotesque behaviour in university colleges and residences. Here’s just one: | The report included excerpts from responses, story upon heartbreaking story of rape and assault after drunken parties, example after example of grotesque behaviour in university colleges and residences. Here’s just one: |
| A large group of guys had a pact where they would go out looking for drunk girls to hook up with, and when one of them succeeded they would message the group and the rest of the guys would get back to the college room first and all pile in the closet (which had a huge gap you could see out of) waiting until the guy got back to the room with the girl and the group of guys would watch/film the couple have sex without the girl having any knowledge of what was happening. | A large group of guys had a pact where they would go out looking for drunk girls to hook up with, and when one of them succeeded they would message the group and the rest of the guys would get back to the college room first and all pile in the closet (which had a huge gap you could see out of) waiting until the guy got back to the room with the girl and the group of guys would watch/film the couple have sex without the girl having any knowledge of what was happening. |
| That sounds pretty similar to the 2011 Skype sex scandal for which some Australian Defence Force cadets were tried and found guilty. | That sounds pretty similar to the 2011 Skype sex scandal for which some Australian Defence Force cadets were tried and found guilty. |
| The federal education minister, Simon Birmingham, the 39 universities that took part in the survey, the universities peak body and the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, all responded as any reasonable person or organisation would – there should be zero tolerance, they had to act. Their responses will, and should, be carefully monitored and scrutinised, but it was heartening to see the unanimous, unqualified acknowledgement that things must change. | The federal education minister, Simon Birmingham, the 39 universities that took part in the survey, the universities peak body and the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, all responded as any reasonable person or organisation would – there should be zero tolerance, they had to act. Their responses will, and should, be carefully monitored and scrutinised, but it was heartening to see the unanimous, unqualified acknowledgement that things must change. |
| Well, almost unanimous. The Australian’s columnist Bettina Arndt, and a few others, including fellow News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt, saw things differently. According to Arndt, the report was in fact “a rare good news story” that proved there was no rape crisis in our higher education institutions. The figures, they insisted, were “a con” and “a hoax”. | Well, almost unanimous. The Australian’s columnist Bettina Arndt, and a few others, including fellow News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt, saw things differently. According to Arndt, the report was in fact “a rare good news story” that proved there was no rape crisis in our higher education institutions. The figures, they insisted, were “a con” and “a hoax”. |
| Just to make absolutely sure these notions can’t be used to undermine such an important report, let’s run through their “arguments”. | Just to make absolutely sure these notions can’t be used to undermine such an important report, let’s run through their “arguments”. |
| The proportion of students reporting assault is, in Arndt’s estimation, low. I have no idea how you could conclude that what must amount to many thousands of assaults each year poses no real problem, particularly when the impact on victims, most of them young people just starting their adult lives, is so clearly documented. | The proportion of students reporting assault is, in Arndt’s estimation, low. I have no idea how you could conclude that what must amount to many thousands of assaults each year poses no real problem, particularly when the impact on victims, most of them young people just starting their adult lives, is so clearly documented. |
| She also took issue with the definition of sexual assault, which she notes includes being “tricked into sexual acts against their will”. | She also took issue with the definition of sexual assault, which she notes includes being “tricked into sexual acts against their will”. |
| “We are not talking about people leaping out of the bushes to rape people; we are talking about sexual consent issues,” she said in a television interview. | “We are not talking about people leaping out of the bushes to rape people; we are talking about sexual consent issues,” she said in a television interview. |
| Yes, indeed we are, and sex without consent is rape, whether it occurs in a room or in the undergrowth. That’s the point. | Yes, indeed we are, and sex without consent is rape, whether it occurs in a room or in the undergrowth. That’s the point. |
| With dizzyingly circuitous logic, she describes the survey as “cooked” because the accusations of assault had not been proven in court (ignoring that one aim of the exercise is to give victims the confidence to come forward because complaints will be taken seriously and treated sensitively) and then also asserts that it would encourage more “false accusations”, which – if actually false – could of course then be disproven in court. | With dizzyingly circuitous logic, she describes the survey as “cooked” because the accusations of assault had not been proven in court (ignoring that one aim of the exercise is to give victims the confidence to come forward because complaints will be taken seriously and treated sensitively) and then also asserts that it would encourage more “false accusations”, which – if actually false – could of course then be disproven in court. |
| And she and Bolt both took issue with the extrapolation of the survey results (300,000 surveys issued, 31,000 responses received) to draw conclusions about the whole university population, arguing the sample of students who chose to respond would be skewed towards those who had experienced assault or harassment and was therefore entirely unreliable. | And she and Bolt both took issue with the extrapolation of the survey results (300,000 surveys issued, 31,000 responses received) to draw conclusions about the whole university population, arguing the sample of students who chose to respond would be skewed towards those who had experienced assault or harassment and was therefore entirely unreliable. |
| Response bias, of course, exists with any survey. Both columnists pointed, with “voila” flourish, to a note in the survey itself which said: “The survey data has been derived from a sample of the target population who were motivated to respond, and who made an autonomous decision to do so. It may not necessarily be representative of the entire university student population.” | Response bias, of course, exists with any survey. Both columnists pointed, with “voila” flourish, to a note in the survey itself which said: “The survey data has been derived from a sample of the target population who were motivated to respond, and who made an autonomous decision to do so. It may not necessarily be representative of the entire university student population.” |
| But they left out the next part – the bit where the survey authors directly responded to possibility of bias. “An independent analysis of the data was conducted in order to assess whether any ‘response bias’ existed in relation to the survey, by examining the relationship between university response rates and the extent to which people said they had experienced or witnessed sexual assault or sexual harassment.” | But they left out the next part – the bit where the survey authors directly responded to possibility of bias. “An independent analysis of the data was conducted in order to assess whether any ‘response bias’ existed in relation to the survey, by examining the relationship between university response rates and the extent to which people said they had experienced or witnessed sexual assault or sexual harassment.” |
| That independent analysis found there may have been some response bias for male respondents, but not for women. | That independent analysis found there may have been some response bias for male respondents, but not for women. |
| This indicates that men who had experienced or witnessed sexual assault or sexual harassment may have been more likely to complete the survey. Therefore, caution must be taken in relation to our results which are projected to the population of male students. These may be an overestimation of the rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment experienced by male university students. No such ‘response bias’ was identified in relation to women and we are therefore more confident in projecting these results to the population of female university students. | This indicates that men who had experienced or witnessed sexual assault or sexual harassment may have been more likely to complete the survey. Therefore, caution must be taken in relation to our results which are projected to the population of male students. These may be an overestimation of the rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment experienced by male university students. No such ‘response bias’ was identified in relation to women and we are therefore more confident in projecting these results to the population of female university students. |
| In fact the survey suggested a real problem is likely to be the under-reporting of assault – only 9% of students who had been sexually assaulted on their campus reported the attack to their university. | In fact the survey suggested a real problem is likely to be the under-reporting of assault – only 9% of students who had been sexually assaulted on their campus reported the attack to their university. |
| Arndt, and those swimming in her slipstream, are even more dismissive of the statistics gathered regarding sexual harassment, mere “stares and leers”, which are, apparently, OK. | Arndt, and those swimming in her slipstream, are even more dismissive of the statistics gathered regarding sexual harassment, mere “stares and leers”, which are, apparently, OK. |
| Actually when I went to university and entered the workforce women in my experience did, for the most part, ignore or endure staring and leering, and usually found unofficial ways to deal with all but the most serious cases of harassment. | Actually when I went to university and entered the workforce women in my experience did, for the most part, ignore or endure staring and leering, and usually found unofficial ways to deal with all but the most serious cases of harassment. |
| It wasn’t because we thought harassment was acceptable, more because we were busy fighting for other things like parental leave and the right for a serious career path afterwards, preoccupied with pushing against the glass ceiling. | It wasn’t because we thought harassment was acceptable, more because we were busy fighting for other things like parental leave and the right for a serious career path afterwards, preoccupied with pushing against the glass ceiling. |
| My friend Karen Middleton wrote an excellent column in the Saturday Paper last year that explained some of the methods we found as young journalists in the press gallery to work around persistent problems – such as warning newly arrived women which MPs to watch out for. Deservedly, her column received an enormous response. The most shocking thing from my perspective was that anyone there at that time found it shocking at all. | My friend Karen Middleton wrote an excellent column in the Saturday Paper last year that explained some of the methods we found as young journalists in the press gallery to work around persistent problems – such as warning newly arrived women which MPs to watch out for. Deservedly, her column received an enormous response. The most shocking thing from my perspective was that anyone there at that time found it shocking at all. |
| Now this next generation of women are fighting the ingrained, cultural attitudes behind assault and harassment, not working around them but demanding an official reaction. That official response is now coming. They are making a difference. This report happened because of the work and persistence of groups like End Rape on Campus and The Hunting Ground Australia Project. On behalf of the generations following, my daughter’s and son’s generation, we should thank them. | Now this next generation of women are fighting the ingrained, cultural attitudes behind assault and harassment, not working around them but demanding an official reaction. That official response is now coming. They are making a difference. This report happened because of the work and persistence of groups like End Rape on Campus and The Hunting Ground Australia Project. On behalf of the generations following, my daughter’s and son’s generation, we should thank them. |
| And to those who prefer to throw spurious arguments in their way, I’d refer to former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” | And to those who prefer to throw spurious arguments in their way, I’d refer to former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright. “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” |
| Australian universities | |
| Australian education | |
| Andrew Bolt | |
| Sexual harassment | |
| News Corporation | |
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