trigger warning

Harvard is conducting a sex-study survey (deadline is May 3) which all students are required to complete (and students will receive a $5 Amazon gift card for their efforts).

Via NY Post: Naomi Schaefer Riley: Harvard’s wacky campus-sex survey

“Since you have been a student at Harvard University has a student or someone employed by or otherwise associated with Harvard . . . continued to ask you to go out, get dinner, have drinks or have sex even though you said no?” If so, you may be a victim of sexual misconduct or sexual assault or sexual harassment….

Once you get past the basic demographic data — the bit asking students to identify their gender offers eight possible answers — come the questions about experiences….

Eight possible gender selections? Who knew?

And the survey offers this important note: “Sexual assault and sexual misconduct refer to a range of behaviors that are nonconsensual or unwanted. These behaviors could include remarks about physical appearance or persistent sexual advances….

The Harvard administration seems to be on a fishing expedition. “How likely do you think it is that you will experience sexual assault or sexual misconduct during off-campus university-sponsored events?” Um, calls for speculation, your honor. So, by the way, does, “Have you seen a drunk person heading off for what looked like a sexual encounter?”

This survey is so badly written that one wonders whether its results would even pass muster in the kind of peer-reviewed journals in which Harvard professors regularly publish. But then, the goal here isn’t science. It’s politics.

But, it was the Trigger Warning that accompanied the survey that really caught my attention:

“Some of the language used in this survey is explicit and some people may find it uncomfortable, but it is important that we ask the questions in this way so that you are clear what we mean. If responding to this survey is distressful, information on how to get help if you need it appears at the top of each page and at the end of the survey….

Last week, Megyn Kelly, commenting on students creating a “safe space” on campus for those offended by a Conservative feminist’s speech at Oberlin College, recalled that when she complained to her personal trainer about the workout, she was told: “Toughen up, buttercup.”

Sounds like good advice for all the delicate little flowers at Harvard.

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2 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Alain41 says:

    The survey with compensation associates sex for money, seems like encouraging ‘hey baby I bought dinner now put out’ behavior. Catch 22.

    Mandatory idiocy. Veritas.

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