Column cites Sanday research, Phi Kappa Psi hazing death, Title IX rollback
The Guardian published Solnit’s column, titled “We live in a rape-prone society. The horrific Cornell case reveals what that looks like,” in its Comment is Free opinion section on October 3, 2026. Solnit addresses a civil lawsuit filed by a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe against seven male Cornell students, writing that while the case “may be unusual in its severity,” the underlying phenomenon is widespread.
Solnit writes that statistics show that between 20% and 25% of women college students will be victims of sexual assault during their time in college, and writes that “no statistics tell us what percentage of men students will be rapists.” She draws on a Johns Hopkins University “student well-being” blog post to describe the “Red Zone” — a period from the start of the fall semester through Thanksgiving break when, according to the blog, over 50% of campus sexual assaults occur. Solnit writes that “sexual assault arises in part through both the entitlement and the desire to abuse and dehumanize women, which is in part about definitions of both masculinity and femininity.”
The column argues that fraternity culture plays a central role. Solnit writes that the Greek system does not permit alcohol at sororities, which “makes fraternities the hosts of the alcohol-saturated parties, which sends young women into enemy territory, which is where they are sometimes manipulated to get them drunk and stranded and abused.” The Hopkins blog, as quoted by Solnit, states that “alcohol is the tool that is most commonly used by perpetrators in cases of sexual assault” and that “a person who is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol is not able to consent.”
Solnit cites a Cornell student newspaper editorial reporting that 15% of students at the university have experienced “nonconsensual sexual contact” and that a “disproportionate fifth” of those incidents occurred at fraternities. She notes that the fraternity named in the 2024 lawsuit was suspended from campus for a period, citing a November 2024 Guardian report.
The columnist references Peggy Sanday, an anthropologist whose research distinguishes “rape-prone” and “rape-free” societies. According to Solnit’s account of Sanday’s work, “She found that in rape-free cultures, women have far more authority, status, safety and freedom.” Rape-prone cultures, Solnit writes, “treat rape as an entitlement in a system that revolves around masculine contests and hierarchies.” Solnit also cites Sanday’s book “Fraternity Gang Rape,” which she says documents “daily life in the fraternity, highlighting the role played by pornography, male bonding, and degrading, often grotesque, initiation and hazing rituals.”
Solnit references a 2020 death of an 18-year-old Cornell freshman from “an alcohol-intensive hazing ritual” at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, which she identifies as a neighbor of the fraternity named in the 2024 lawsuit. The hazing death is presented as part of Solnit’s broader argument about fraternity culture.
The column extends beyond the Cornell case to federal policy and political associations. Solnit cites the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit organization, in reporting that the Department of Education rescinded a Biden-era Title IX rule. The column states that this move “puts back in place rules for colleges and universities from the first Trump administration that suppress the voices of survivors of rape and sexual assault and make it easier for their perpetrators to get away with their actions,” and that the change also affects LGBTQ+ students.
Solnit also links the Trump administration to several men facing sexual misconduct allegations, writing that “the Trump administration appears comfortable in the company of alleged perpetrators.” She cites the administration’s intervention on behalf of Andrew Tate, who is charged with multiple counts of rape, trafficking, and assault against women; the selection of Russell Brand, who is awaiting trial on multiple charges of sexual assault, to co-moderate a panel at a Maha conference on September 29; Trump’s status as having been held liable for sex abuse; and allegations against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Solnit notes parenthetically that “all of the men deny wrongdoing.”
The columnist concludes by arguing that the criminal justice system alone is insufficient, given what she describes as appallingly low conviction rates, and that “the only effective, lasting, far-reaching solution is the political, legal, economic and cultural equality of women.” She writes that this requires “the liberation of men from the kind of misogynistic male supremacy Sanday describes in the fraternities.”
Solnit is identified in the column as a Guardian US columnist and the author of “Orwell’s Roses” and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology “Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility.”