Similar sexual assault policy changes at Harvard have spurred 28 Harvard Law professors to write a letter of objection, noting that due process and the rights of the accused are seriously threatened by policies that compromise the presumption of innocence and affirmative burden of proof. But those who defend the law likely have a legitimate complaint with the burden of proof as it currently stands: namely, people don’t tend to believe women when they claim they’ve been assaulted.
I agree: the fact that women are not generally perceived to be as credible as men is a real feminist issue. … Affirmative consent laws will not actually address the problem that women are generally viewed as less credible than men.
Nobody is claiming rape isn’t wrong or that it isn’t a problem, but the fact is that it is already illegal, and much of the struggle against the failures of the legal system in handling rape cases will consist of destroying the delusion that women are not credible agents. Affirmative consent laws will be no help there, and may well do some harm.
Source: Prohibition, Affirmative Consent | Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig
archive: Prohibition, Affirmative Consent | Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig
Additional: An Appalling Case for Affirmative-Consent Laws – The Atlantic by Conor Friedersdorf