Washington Post columnist calls rape victimhood a 'coveted status'

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last updated 8 January 2015

The White House's efforts to target campus rape have produced a number of disheartening responses, and the latest is from Washington Post op-ed columnist George Will, who says that colleges have "become the victims of progressivism." In a horrifying article, Will says that sexual assault victimhood has become a "coveted status" among college students.

Will goes on to argue that campus rape is only a "supposed epidemic" and that sexual assault numbers are overreported. Like Glenn Beck and The Blaze, Will says the statistic that one in five college women is sexually assaulted isn't true. For good measure, Will concludes his article by hopping on the recent trend of attacking "trigger warnings" for assault survivors.

Unsurprisingly, Will's article has already received a large amount of criticism. Will puts "sexual assault" in quotes following a rape anecdote to suggest the victim is at fault, and he attributes rape to "the ambiguities of the hookup culture" rather than faulting the individuals responsible. Connor Simpson at The Wire has the right idea: "We should just ignore his ignorant argument in the same manner Will thinks we should ignore sexual assault."