What does being anti-SJW mean to you? Feel free to comment here or email me privately.

I became anti-SJW after one moment.

It was when the article Dear Harvard: You Win went viral.

I read it and couldn’t help but think Harvard took completely reasonable actions to address her allegations:

  • She had an opportunity to open a case with the Administrative Board (she didn’t)
  • The school offered for her to transfer to a different house (she didn’t)
  • the school issued a no-contact order against her alleged assailant

She writes, “The school was extremely reluctant to take any action against my assailant without a fair investigative process” as if this were somehow a bad thing.

One of the most “outrageous” parts of the article is that Harvard has an outdated sexual assault policy. I personally don’t think there is a need for a student policy against anything that is already illegal. Should Harvard have a policy against murder? These incidents should be handled by the police, and if the police aren’t handling them well, let’s fix that.

I do agree with some of her points such as school officials needing better training to deal with sexual assault. She shouldn’t have been discouraged from opening up a case or from reporting it to police.

But this is where the author really lost me (emphasis added):

This system is a product of a broader rape culture that permeates our society—a culture in which it is acceptable to blame a victim of assault for drinking too much, in which the burden is always on the survivor to advocate for her- or himself, in which inaction is always preferred, if only to make sure the assailant does not sue anyone for unfair punishment.

Innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof being on the accuser is rape culture? That’s ridiculous. And yet, I saw my friends all over my Facebook feed sharing and agreeing with everything in this article. I couldn’t believe that even my friends in law school accepted that definition of rape culture without a second glance.

I’ve always thought I was as liberal as they come. I support government spending on social programs, raising taxes, cutting the defense budget, marriage equality, legalization, and ending the drug war off the top of my head. I grew up getting my news from the Daily Show. I’m even part of an inter-racial couple.

But when that article came out, I saw people who shared my opinions and expressed them being shunned as “rape apologists” or “supporting rape culture.” That’s when I became, what I now know to be called, anti-SJW. Because I do not and have never supported rape, but they continue to insist that I do.

/r/KotakuInAction Thread