Great post. I hadn’t heard that question defended before (it always gave me pause, and I read Hoff Summers’ book)–and your answer makes a lot of sense. I hadn’t even thought about validity testing.

It’s also interesting that these antifeminists don’t come up with any stats. about how many women are really raped, or have any terminal point. Even if they could show that not all 15% that Mary Koss reported really were raped, who cares? So, an inflated number means we should what? Especially considering the fact that you pointed out–studies with (by their lights) better methodology have found the same result.

The good old red herring defense.

if answering “yes” to Koss’s questions has a high correlation to having experienced legally defined rape (which amp is arguing it does), then the answer to “was it definitely rape?” is irrelevant, and any criticisms based on the answer to that question can’t hold up.

One of the interesting findings is how many of the women didn’t think it was rape…..When I tell my students about the questions they usally laugh, but they don’t realize that you can’t ask women if they were raped and capture many of the rapes out there.

There is some very finding things, especially when you look at the methodology.