Here’s one more data point.
Yale began admitting female undergraduates in 1968, a mere half-century ago. I attended Yale from 1973 to 1977—exactly a decade before Brett Kavanaugh—and I can attest that the atmosphere for us early coeds was just as hostile, misogynistic, and even rapey as recent reports indicate.
I was sexually assaulted at the very first “mixer” (dance) of my freshman year. Yes, I drank too much, and passed out; but fortunately, I woke up and got my clothes back together before things went “too far.” How we ended up down there in the steam tunnels, I’m not sure, but I’m fortunate that he was a scrawny youth who retreated when I started resisting.
I can assure you that according to the mores of the time, the whole thing would be considered my fault for dancing with the guy and drinking too much. There was never even a thought of “reporting” the incident. We had no orientation-type counseling about sex or consent, or even about drinking (the drinking age was pretty universally age 18 in those days). Booze was available, even actively encouraged: my residential college had regular happy hours selling drinks in the common room at 3 for a dollar.
I did tell a friend about it, occasionally, and even pointed him out, sniggeringly—an attitude of amused contempt was the only recourse I had (of course I never spoke to him again). Yesterday I finally googled him and was relieved to see that although he had been pre-med, he apparently never went to med school and had an apparent career in finance, a role with (I hope) less exposure to / power over women in vulnerable situations.
I won’t go into the culture of misogyny that existed during those years—the jokes, chants, songs, and other manifestations that continually reminded us how unwelcome we were. I stayed there for several reasons: my first-semester (and subsequent) grades sucked, my big sister was cleaning it up over at Vassar—how could I quit?, and I had just managed to escape a Southern community that seemed far more repressive than New Haven. Those may seem like dumb reasons, but Mister, I was only a kid....however, I did learn enough to avoid being attacked again in that particular manner.
Young people, old people, people who are historically uninformed: please understand that what only a decade or so ago was called “date rape” was NOT EVEN CONSIDERED A CRIME in those days—far less, an “incomplete” act of the sort I experienced one week into my first semester. So please, enough with the “Why didn’t she report it?” and “Why did she stay?” Even our modern civilization has been tough on women—why should Academia be an exception?