The internet is at odds since the story of the alleged gang rape of the “Cornell 7” at Cornell University broke. One side of the internet is supportive and protective of Jane Doe, admiring her bravery, while the other side is taking their own hatred for women out on her. Cases such as Cornell are not rare. Assaults on college campuses happen every day, fraternities a huge contributor to the problem. But because of their dedication to the brotherhood, many cases slide by.
Anti-feminists use crimes such as this to make an objectively black-and-white issue gray. With sentiments such as “false allegations can ruin a man’s life,” it becomes extremely easy to take these cases and turn it around on the victim. Doe was pressured into taking ketamine while knowing she was already inebriated, and assaulted.
Instead of putting a stop to it, Jonathon Newell sent a message into the fraternity group chat saying “free p-----.” Instead of putting a stop to it, Matthew Ingalls said, “like you can walk in and whip it out.” Instead of putting a stop to it, all seven men poured ketamine on her body and snorted it off her. When rape was advertised, not one man out of the 57 in the group chat did anything to stop it. As a result, she was shamed for their actions, and she left Cornell.
Yet somehow, some men online don’t believe it. Matt Walsh, a self-proclaimed world-renowned diversity equity and inclusion “consultant” with 4 million followers on X, went on a tirade about how feminists believe women can do no wrong. Instead of talking about the disgusting actions of these men, he actually proposed the perpetrators should file a countersuit.
Additionally, as a response to an ABC article stating 35% of undergraduate women reported having been sexually assaulted, Walsh said, “Wow. This is horrifying. The false rape allegation epidemic is much worse than we realized.”
It is a gross underestimation to say eliminating fraternities would eliminate sexual assault. However, on college campuses, they play a huge role.
When the University of Mary Washington did a survey of 181,752 students at 33 colleges and universities in the United States, it found 65.1% of women experienced harassment since enrolling in the school, and 13% of respondents reported sexual assault by force or inability to consent.
Many of these assaults happen during the red zone, a period of time like welcome weekend, Halloween or fest season, when students go to parties or other events typically hosted by fraternities. The American Psychological Association reported 50% of all campus sexual assaults occur during this period.
Studies have shown frequent binge drinking and sociosexual attitudes before college are directly correlated with an increased likelihood of joining a fraternity, and being in a fraternity also increases binge drinking and perceived peer sexual aggression. Knowing this, it is easy to see how Cornell happened. Fraternities are a powder keg waiting to explode.
A large part of our online communities now revolve around the manosphere, a sect of the internet promoting negative definitions about what it means to be a man and false narratives in which gender equality comes at the cost of men’s rights.
Men such as Andrew Tate and Clavicular run these circles and promote content about violence against women. Tate, who has admitted to being a misogynist, has 10.7 million followers on X. Men following these accounts see their content, and it affects their view on women in the real world. Surprising to no one, both Tate and Clavicular are facing charges of rape among other heinous acts against women.
If this is who these men are following, it is obvious how and why there was a 33% increase in sexual abuse cases in the 2025 fiscal year compared to 2021.
Although there will never be a definitive response to why or how the problem of sexual assault is still so prevalent, it is extremely easy to point to one solution which may help: abolishing or severely regulating fraternities. There have been too many occurrences without appropriate punishment for society at large to allow fraternities to continue abusing women.
The Pest is an anonymous column for writers to air their grievances about Ohio University, Athens and society at large. Want to share your thoughts? Email the Editor in Chief at editor@thepostathens.com
