One of the tropes that leftists rely upon to keep Americans (especially younger women) clamoring for politicians to protect them is that there is a “rape culture” on college campuses nationwide. We continually hear Hillary, Obama, Biden and others claiming that one in five college women will be raped and that this problem (make that “crisis”) demands the sort of action that only concerned Democrats can deliver.

Counterattacks against this notion are mostly drowned out in the cacophony of the leftist media, but a few brave women have challenged it. Among them is Canadian writer and self-described “individualist feminist” Wendy McElroy. She has recently published a book arguing that the “campus rape culture” is a myth that harms men and women alike.

In today’s Pope Center Clarion Call, Jane Shaw (who would, I think, describe herself as an “individualist feminist” also) reviews Wendy’s book, Rape Culture Hysteria.

McElroy demolishes the phony statistics behind the hysteria, calling it all a Big Lie. She points out that the overreaction instigated by federal officials and college administrators eager to please them have ruined the lives of male students through the unfair procedures demanded by the Education Department’s overzealous Office for Civil Rights and argues that the hysteria harms women by luring them into thinking that they don’t need to take reasonable precautions on campus. Individualist feminists believe that women have equal rights but also must take responsibility for themselves, a view not shared by the hysteria mongers.

I recommend McElroy’s book and will only add that to the limited extent that rape and true assault occur on our campuses, it’s mostly the result of the way we have oversold and subsidized college, bringing to campuses many idle young men and women who just want to have fun.