You need a girl’s consent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tells rapists. If she says “yes,” it’s not rape—it’s “affirmative consent.”
“Affirmative consent” is pivotal to Cuomo’s new plan to stop college rape. His plan consists of giving a legislative PowerPoint to rapists that defines rape in crystal clear terms. Cuomo maintains that once rapists understand what rape is—ta da!—they will never rape again.
It works like this: Cuomo introduces a law defining “affirmative consent” as a “knowing, voluntary and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity.” Now, for the first time ever, any man seeking sexual activity with a college woman in New York will know that she must willingly partake in the act or it will be considered rape. Thank you, Andrew Cuomo!
Wait a minute. Rape and sexual assault are already defined and banned by laws on the books. Cuomo is not telling would-be rapists anything they don’t already know.
In addition to copious man-made laws defining and barring rape, every human being possesses an innate set of laws known as “reason” or the “conscience.” This internal compass tells you that rape is wrong because it is the theft of another person’s body.
Cuomo’s cute PowerPoint defining consent is doomed to fail at deterring rape because it is redundant and because it relies on rapists listening to their consciences despite the fact that criminals, by definition, ignore their consciences.
NEW YORK vs. TEXAS: Women Carrying Concealed Guns on Campus
While Cuomo was advising college women to stop a rapist with a loud shout: “No!”—Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pulled the trigger on meaningful legislation.Last week, Abbott signed a bill recognizing the right of college women (and men) to carry concealed firearms on all public university and community college campuses. Abbott’s law affirms every woman’s natural right to defend her body with the most modern and effective tool of self-defense.
Fact: the vast majority of rapes and sexual assaults that occur on college campuses are perpetrated by hardened criminals, specifically serial rapists. The White House Council on Women and Girls recently cited a report showing that only 7 percent of all male college students admitted to attempted rape. However, the majority (63 percent) of those who conceded to attempted rape committed an average of six rapes.
Adding layers of redundancy to man-made and natural laws, as Cuomo is doing, is not a meaningful way to stop rape. Late last year, I told you how California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill called “Yes Means Yes,” which treats women like dumb-dumb robots who must be pre-programmed with the definitions of “yes” and “no.”
Cuomo and Brown’s legislation stems from the fundamental belief that women are stupid and do not deserve the same protection as male politicians like themselves who employ armed body guards. On the other hand, Abbott’s legislation stems from his philosophical belief that women are smart and are equals to men.
Maybe Cuomo was born this way. (Maybe he was always this sexist.) After all, he has been busy as a bee co-authoring editorials about affirmative consent with none other than “Born This Way” star Lady Gaga.
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire
Fact: Gun grabbers like Cuomo are notorious fibbers. After 21-year-old Dylann Roof shot and killed nine innocent people in a Charleston, South Carolina Church, President Obama gathered a posse of journalists with flashing cameras. Then, he used the tragedy to lie about guns for political gain:
“Innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hand on a gun. …let’s be clear. At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” – President Obama on June 18, 2015
Let me be clear: the man who calls gun owners “bitter clingers” has a poor track record for sharing the facts about the relationship between guns and mass violence. Besides getting the international statistics wrong, he sidestepped the obvious fact that Roof—like all recent mass shooters in the U.S. and unlike the average American gun owner—is a man with mental health issues who chose a gun free zone to commit crime.
Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger and Roof all had nitwit parents who supplied them with key tools (such as a gun or a car) that they used to commit violence. Their parents also allowed them to live reclusive and independent lifestyles despite clear signs of mental illness.
We have a parenting problem in America, not a problem of “easy” access to guns. Let’s never allow city slicker politicians from New York, Los Angeles or Chicago to tell us otherwise. Goodbye, sexists! Hello, Texas!