Jessica Valenti's Wall Of Delusion

It's true that lunatics seek power, and power tends to draw in lunatics, so I found myself not too surprised that Jessica Valenti chirpily dismisses any damage her preferred due-process-lite proceedings might do to men.

No one wants to see innocent people accused of horrible crimes, but there is a distinct lack of evidence that young men on college campuses – even the ones who have raped women – are suffering any harm due to the increased focus on ending rape.

When I first read this sentence, I turned about fifteen shades of purple; hasn't she heard of the Phi Kappa Psi house vandalized in the wake of Sabrina Rubin Erdely's journalistic malpractice? Or of Paul Nungesser (whom, conveniently, she does not name at all)? Why, of course, but Emma Sulkowicz (whose name she misspells) is the real "victim". "How did the system fail him, exactly?" she asks, coyly. Meanwhile, Sulkowicz continued to lug that mattress around after he was found not responsible, publicly slandering Nungesser, and more ominously, even getting face time with a United States Senator because of her supposed victimhood. I presume Valenti has never been in trouble with the law, and yet it's pretty clear she never attempted to hear Nungesser's side of things. Indeed, she calls anyone with an interest in determining the verity of charges a rape "truther", as though false charges could never occur.

But after I got over my initial fury, it occurred to me that in one sense, she is right, because of a peculiarity in Title IX law: the proceedings are secret, not public, which means even if she wanted to find such falsely accused men, she would have a terrible hard time of it. The public courts are another matter, of course, and there she could have found 58 cases against universities filed by men (many of them John Does) claiming injury under the system. Valenti's refusal to do any research whatsoever is a testament to her utter lack of concern for men; they simply don't matter in her universe. False accusations can't and don't happen, and if they do, they are consequence-free for the accuser.

This veil will come off shortly, I expect; such a flood of lawsuits will eventually yield one against Title IX itself and its expansive, unconstitutional overreach. Valenti's delusion that there are no men injured by her secret tribunals bereft of due process proceedings can last only as long as they stay secret.