It's become common knowledge that the claim that 1-in-5 women will be sexually assaulted while in college is controversial, based on self-reported surveys that broaden the definition of sexual assault and ignore the fact that most women say they don't report because they don't think their encounter was a big deal.īut Lisak's study was downright fraudulent, in that it didn't actually look at campus sexual assault but was used in that regard to further his status in the anti-rape community.įurther, the two key accusations in 'The Hunting Ground' didn't hold up under scrutiny. The film relied on debunked statistics to claim that campus sexual assault is an 'epidemic,' including heavily featuring David Lisak, whose theory about serial predators was debunked earlier this year. The film, which is more accurately described as propaganda than a documentary, received intense backlash from journalists (and commentary writers such as myself), film critics and law professors for its loose adherence to facts. ' The Hunting Ground' was not nominated for the best documentary category at the Oscars, a blow to the filmmakers who have worked so hard defending their film from criticism.

The hunting ground awards