Saturday, November 9, 2019

Kavanaugh and Myths Around Sexual Assault


Kavanaugh and Myths Around Sexual Assault

Last year our country was overtaken by the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States. After his nomination Christine Blasey Ford, a former acquaintance from his youth accused him of sexual assault years prior. What followed was a media avalanche of coverage, with both side of the political aisle weighing in on what they deemed plausible, and what they didn’t. Since time has passed we all know that his accuser was heavily scrutinized and he was eventually sworn in to the highest court in the land. Some common themes and myths were repeated throughout this discourse that have strong implications for how our society deals with sexual assault, and our expectations for males in their teenage years.
In this article we have four neuroscientists and 3 criminologists weigh in on common myths about teens and sexual assault. This article discusses our misled beliefs about the types of people who commit these crimes, how teenagers are more susceptible to assaulting people because of poor impulse control, and an underdeveloped brain, and also myths regarding the memories ability to recall traumatic events.
A common theme during this review was that Brett Kavanaugh, as a young teenage boy, wasn’t the type of person to commit this type of crime, if he DID commit the crime it was due to teenage immaturity and a lack of impulse control, and it is the victims memory which should be highly questioned. But the truth behind these events paint quite a different picture. One point that stood out to me was the belief that teen sexual assault was driven by poor impulse control, when in actuality peer pressure had a much larger effect on behavior like this. The research had found that teenagers were much more likely to commit sexual assault when they were encouraged by friends or had friends who also committed such behaviors.
If this is true, what are the implications of this research when considering our culture and the prevalence of sexual assault among young males? We know that the vast majority of assaults are committed by males, and the victims of such are largely women. We also know that most assaults have a power aspect to them. Is our culture truly a rape culture? And if so, why is it so hard to believe an accuser when the behavior DOES fit an obvious pattern?


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