Actually, The Link Between Sexual Assault And Alcohol Isn’t As Clear As You Think

[redqueen]

It’s become common knowledge that alcohol is a major factor that contributes to sexual assaults. On Monday, USA Today published a story quoting doctors and experts who point out that alcohol is the most common date rape drug, far more likely to be used to incapacitate a victim than “roofies” are. And that’s just the most recent piece on the subject. After Slate columnist Emily Yoffe stoked controversy earlier this month by writing that young women should avoid getting drunk, since it’s been proven that drinking is “closely associated” with sexual assault, the dialogue about alcohol and rape has been re-opened.

This entire conversation is predicated upon the assumption that the presence of alcohol increases the likelihood of rape, so we need to encourage college students to drink less. Yoffe played into a decades-long tradition of framing that discussion specifically around women, a method of victim-blaming that feeds into rape culture. But even when the discussion is properly framed around the perpetrators rather than the victims, how strong is the correlation in question? Will getting kids to drink less actually get them to rape less?

Toward the end of the USA Today article about alcohol’s function as a date rape drug, one of the experts who agreed to be quoted in the story noted, “People don’t get raped because they have been drinking, because they are passed out or because they are drunk. People get raped because there is a perpetrator there — someone who wants to take advantage of them.”

Even though alcohol is associated with sexual assault, it’s not actually a direct association. Getting intoxicated only leads to rape when there’s someone present to commit that rape. When you remove rapists from the equation, the risks of getting drunk — which, of course, do involve serious public health consequences — don’t include getting raped.

A 2001 research project into sexual assault and alcohol commissioned by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism puts it this way: “Although alcohol consumption and sexual assault frequently co-occur, this phenomenon does not prove that alcohol use causes sexual assault.” In some cases, the researchers pointed out, it may actually be the other way around. The desire to commit a sexual assault may actually encourage alcohol consumption, as some men may drink before assaulting a woman in order to help justify their behavior.

...

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/29/2844951/link-alcohol-sexual-assault/

"This entire conversation is predicated upon the assumption that the presence of alcohol increases the likelihood of rape, so we need to encourage college students to drink less. Yoffe played into a decades-long tradition of framing that discussion specifically around women, a method of victim-blaming that feeds into rape culture."

And how often do we see that particular method of reinforcing rape culture used right here on DU?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. There is another side to the rape-alcohol equation.

Most rapists are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs when they commit their offenses. Alcohol, and a number of other drugs, are disinhibitors of all kinds of aggression.

[redqueen]

2. How is that another side?

Drunk drivers are punished for causing accidents. It's not an excuse nor a mitigating circumstance.

Same for rape.

Also did you notice this part?

The desire to commit a sexual assault may actually encourage alcohol consumption, as some men may drink before assaulting a woman in order to help justify their behavior.

So, yeah. It isn't another side by any stretch of the imagination.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Wha?

Yikes.

[redqueen]

5. Another illuminating paragraph:

It’s difficult to identify rapists, so there isn’t a huge body of research that has investigated their behavior in this way. But a few other studies in this area echo many of Lisak’s findings — most notably, the uncomfortable reality that most sexual predators don’t simply “slip up” after having too much to drink and accidentally violate someone’s consent. Rather, they’re often making calculated decisions to achieve their goal of assaulting multiple victims, just like the Reddit user. A 2009 survey of rapists enlisted in the navy found that the vast majority of men who had committed rape admitted to raping multiple victims, and many of them said they used alcohol as one of their tools. A recent large international study on sexual violence also found that repeat offenses are very high among rapists, and more than 70 percent of the participants who admitted to rape said they did it because they believe they’re entitled to women’s bodies.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. I don't deny any of this, nor did I seek to justify anyone's criminally violent behavior.

I can see how my use of the expression "another side" suggested I was defending or minimizing rape. I assure you I'm not. I as just trying to point out that, just as in most varieties of antisocial violence, the perpetrators are often intoxicated.

Actually, I would probably favor imprisoning multiple-rapists until about age 45 or 50, at which time the statistics suggest that they are relatively unlikely to commit new sexual assaults.

[redqueen]

8. Thanks for clarifying,

I did get that impression from that phrase.

We have so much work to do on this issue. Most women won't even report it, due to the way police and the courts treat the crime.

[MadrasT]

4. This is all that needs to be said about that:

“People don’t get raped because they have been drinking, because they are passed out or because they are drunk. People get raped because there is a perpetrator there — someone who wants to take advantage of them.”

[redqueen]

6. Yep...

And perhaps more broadly, it’s important to remember that sexual assault isn’t actually unique in its relationship to alcohol. In fact, at least half of all violent crimes occur after the perpetrator, the victim, or both have been drinking alcohol. Sexual assault simply fits neatly within that larger pattern — yet we’re much less likely to assume that alcohol factored into an armed robbery, or call on people to stop drinking so they won’t get mugged.

[gollygee]

9. A huge +1 to this

Toward the end of the USA Today article about alcohol’s function as a date rape drug, one of the experts who agreed to be quoted in the story noted, “People don’t get raped because they have been drinking, because they are passed out or because they are drunk. People get raped because there is a perpetrator there — someone who wants to take advantage of them.”

[GP6971]

10. My wife was a phychologist and mental health counselor

who specialized in treating "survivors" of rape and sexual abuse. I emphasizes survivor as it was all about not being a victim.......that they did nothing wrong to deserve their assault / abuse. Sorry, no link, but her experience was that drugs / alchohol was rarely involved.

[Flying Squirrel]

11. I don't get the point

Are you just trying to demonize rapists to make sure they all pay for their crimes - alcohol or no alcohol? How productive is that likely to be, in the long run, and is there no better alternative?

I noticed above you made a comparison between someone committing a rape while under the influence of alcohol, and someone driving drunk.

Obviously I agree that both should be punished. If that is a valid comparison, however, then let's take it a step further.

Some drunk drivers kill people. They are put away for a long period of time once it happens. Other drunk drivers are pulled over before that happens, and are given the option of rehabilitation for their alcoholism (assuming they are in fact alcoholic.) Following that rehabilitation, they are no longer considered a hazard to society.

This being the case, is it not also plausible that someone who commits a rape while under the influence of alcohol, is not necessarily a horrible person - but instead, a sick person who would not have committed that crime were it not for the alcohol? Sure, there may be some overlap - just as in the case of drunk drivers - where someone might be a killer even without the alcohol; but the odds are overwhelmingly against it.

Taking the other scenario a step further, perhaps we as a society should start cracking down on male behavior towards women while under the influence of alcohol, which falls short of rape - just as we started cracking down on drunk driving even when it hadn't yet caused an accident. A media campaign should happen just as it has with drunk driving; women should be encouraged to report less serious incidents; these incidents should be investigated and prosecuted, and the men involved should be given the option of rehabilitation for alcoholism if that is an issue with them.

[redqueen]

13. Cracking down on men's behavior towards women

is kind of a huge part of radical feminism ... as well as the societal conditioning that feeds that behavior.

The point of this is to try to get people to knock it the fuck off with all the rape culture-enabling bullshit.

[ismnotwasm]

14. You're missing some context

Analogies for rape only work to a certain degree. What we believe in is a rape culture

A systematic and gendered culture that normalizes and in some cases condones--rape. This includes comments or attitudes such as "she's asking for it" "she wants it" , victim blaming, the massive under-reporting of rape, the over 400,000 back logged rape kits, Statistical games MRA's and others play minimizing the problem, sexualization of very young girls, the fact that the phenomena of "roofies" even exist, rape duplications or implications in music, in fashion.

The evidence for rape culture is overwhelming and those examples are off the top of of my head. There are hundreds more.

So the fact that a guy gets drunk and rapes women is more the result of an ingrained culture acceptance of such behavior. He may or may not be sick and in need of help. The sad fact is, he's much more likely to be acting out a presumed sexual entitlement with lowered inhibitions.

[Flying Squirrel]

15. Ok got it...

The culture would need to change before more minor assault could begin to be prosecuted and treated like drunk driving.

[ismnotwasm]

16. Actually

The culture would have to change before rapists are successfully brought to justice

[BainsBane]

18. Are you actually arguing that an ordinarily law abiding person

can drink and commit a violent crime like rape as a result of the alcohol and not his own violent nature? And you're objecting to "demonizing rapists"? I cannot even believe what I have read.

[Flying Squirrel]

19. I am suggesting that a sufficient amount of alcohol

Can make a person "black out" and do things they would not ordinarily do - perhaps as a result of their violent nature which they keep in check while sober. And my question was about the productiveness of the post - not saying that rapists had not done something worth demonizing, but whether they as people should be demonized. A person who commits a murder has done a bad thing, but I don't believe in demonizing them or in the death penalty. I believe in rehabilitation for those who can be rehabilitated. I believe most people who commit rape under the influence of alcohol could probably be rehabilitated, preferably before they commit the rape; I believe if it is a first time offense and happened under the influence, the penalty should be lower and society should try to rehabilitate them while they are in prison.

[BainsBane]

20. I believe there is an obscene amount

Of rape apology is this rape culture of ours that excuses rapists and punishes victims, so much so that the conviction rate is only 4%. We even have a thread in GD with so-called Democrats arguing that threats of rape and murder were justified against a woman who wore a particular Halloween costume they didn't like. I'm sick and tired of my life and my body being treated as it insignificant, as a political football for men in propping up misogyny. This is a safe haven feminist group. So take your concerns about rehabilitation of the 96% of rapists who never see jail time elsewhere. This is the one little corner of DU where women's lives actually matter.

[Flying Squirrel]

21. I apologize, BainsBane

I only noticed the post because it was on the GP, and only commented on it because I have a particular interest in alcoholism and rehabilitation of alcoholics. I will leave the thread now.

[MadrasT]

12. You know, this whole narrative is really pissing me the fuck off.

The more I think about it...

THIS WHOLE THING IS COMPLETE HORSE SHIT VICTIM BLAMING NONSENSE.

Nobody I know who was raped was drunk at the time. In some cases the man was, but the woman? Never.

I AM SO FUCKING TIRED OF PEOPLE MAKING EXCUSES FOR RAPISTS.

[nomorenomore08]

17. Correlation does not imply causation. Absolutely correct.

The alcohol itself is not the crucial part of the equation, the predatory man (or sometimes woman) is.