12-28-2010, 11:15 AM
and took it. While heaving a sigh of relief.
This is going to risk some flak, but here\'s the theory.
1. The actual sexual harrassment was, apparently, fondling her breasts. I know, I know. The integrity of a person is the principle, not just some sliding score of body parts touched. But a LOT of people thought at first they were looking at a case of rape, and when the reports came out, the response was "oh...that\'s IT?".
2. ND is going after her mental instability. The so-called commonsense reaction -- and I read comments like this on ND bulletin boards-- is: "Big deal. Teenage boys have groped girls since time immemorial. Whaddayagonnado? Women have seemed to be able to survive this part of growing up, even thrive despite it." ERGO says ND, this wouldn\'t be that big a deal to a "normal" woman. Maybe not what fondled women wanted and not pleasant, but no reason to kill oneself. But she was mentally unstable, had been diagnosed with mental problems, and reacted out of proportion to how a normal woman might react. Thus speaks ND.
That might not be the most principled of defenses, but it\'s the one ND is taking and will probably get away with. They are lucky (until the next incident) that it wasn\'t rape or coerced sexual intercourse. So all they have to do is rope-a-dope it and keep chipping away at the dead victim. Takes care of priority #1: protect Notre Dame. And if that next time does involve a rape, they\'ve got the "one bad apple" defense tanned, rested and ready to go.
This is going to risk some flak, but here\'s the theory.
1. The actual sexual harrassment was, apparently, fondling her breasts. I know, I know. The integrity of a person is the principle, not just some sliding score of body parts touched. But a LOT of people thought at first they were looking at a case of rape, and when the reports came out, the response was "oh...that\'s IT?".
2. ND is going after her mental instability. The so-called commonsense reaction -- and I read comments like this on ND bulletin boards-- is: "Big deal. Teenage boys have groped girls since time immemorial. Whaddayagonnado? Women have seemed to be able to survive this part of growing up, even thrive despite it." ERGO says ND, this wouldn\'t be that big a deal to a "normal" woman. Maybe not what fondled women wanted and not pleasant, but no reason to kill oneself. But she was mentally unstable, had been diagnosed with mental problems, and reacted out of proportion to how a normal woman might react. Thus speaks ND.
That might not be the most principled of defenses, but it\'s the one ND is taking and will probably get away with. They are lucky (until the next incident) that it wasn\'t rape or coerced sexual intercourse. So all they have to do is rope-a-dope it and keep chipping away at the dead victim. Takes care of priority #1: protect Notre Dame. And if that next time does involve a rape, they\'ve got the "one bad apple" defense tanned, rested and ready to go.