Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said that she hopes coverage like the Rolling Stone UVA rape hoax is “putting more of a spotlight on the problem” of campus sexual assault in an interview at the Women in the World summit released on the summit’s YouTube page on Friday.
Gillibrand was asked, “in terms of the exposés and the articles — and Rolling Stone is — what’s your opinion — all that coverage, is it helping, is it hurting? Just speak to that.”
Gillibrand stated, “Well, I hope it’s just putting more of a spotlight on the problem. I hope it’s not undermining our advocacy. Because this is important, these are lives of women and men, young lives that are being destroyed and ruined because there is no justice if you are a survivor of rape. Whether it’s the criminal justice system, or whether it’s a campus adjudication process. And it’s very problematic when we are not valuing our daughters, and we are not valuing our sons when these incidents happen. We have to hold perpetrators accountable.”
She continued, “the other misconception of rape is perpetrators tend to be recidivists, they do this over and over again. They are targeting their victims in advance. They are predators. These are premeditated crimes. They’re not hormones, or the hook-up culture, or dates gone badly. These are predators who choose their victim in advance, use drugs and alcohol as weapons, and then will commit their crimes in a predetermined location under a circumstance they’ve all planned out. So, we have to hold these perpetrators accountable. And justice has to be possible for the survivor.”
(h/t Daily Caller)
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