Alcohol, Sexual Assault and the Death of Common Sense

It’s not unreasonable to say that loading up on alcohol to the point where personal motor skills are lost will probably lead to poor choices being made. It’s also not absurd to acknowledge that excessive drinking often leads to sexual assault and that a good way to avoid being a victim of it is to not drink so much you can’t feel your face.

Not long ago, say oh, 5 years, the above statements would cause most to nod their heads in agreement and wonder why you are stating the obvious. Today however, speaking such sentiments gets you accused of victim shaming.

A perfect example of this new culture of stupefaction is the recent kerfuffle over Stanford University having the gall to mention on in its website the role alcohol plays in sexual assault.

In a now deleted page called “Female Bodies and Alcohol”, the biological differences between sexes were discussed along with the well known fact that women feel the effects of alcohol much more strongly and quicker than men, risking impaired moral judgment and decision making capabilities.

In another words because alcohol will get a woman drunk and stupid quicker than it will a man, the prudent thing to do would be for women to limit their intake if they wish to avoid being sexually assaulted.

The page also stated that…

“Research tells us that women who are seen drinking alcohol are perceived to be more sexually available than they may actually be.”

“That alcohol makes it easier for some to meet and talk to new people is seen as a positive by most people who drink alcohol. The down side is that, by some accounts, alcohol is involved in as many as 75% of sexual assaults on a college campus.” 

 “For some, being drunk serves as a justification for behavior that is demeaning or insulting, including the use of others as sexual objects.”

Cue the angry feminists with pitchforks. After a social media outcry and criticism from the usual suspects at the Huffington Post and ThinkProgress, Stanford issued the by now obligatory apology, saying,

“We would like to apologize for an outdated and insensitive article on women and alcohol that was here.  The content of the article did not reflect the values of our office.  We are sorry for the harm that the article may have caused people who read it.”

Excuse me but if telling the truth about alcohol and how it contributes to sexual assault does not “reflect your values”, than what the heck does?

Yes, of course it’s wrong for a man to have sex with a woman who is incapacitated, but that doesn’t mean pointing out how to help prevent this from happening in the first place is somehow singling out women as the villains.

Shocker here I know, but a lot of drunken partying occurs on college campuses, resulting in many regrettable hookups and even outright sexual assault and rape. The original Stanford post tried to address this with common sense talk of the type any responsible parent would have with their daughters.

In today’s Bizzarro World of hypersexual politics though, speaking hard truths about the nature of men and women somehow means you are blaming the victim and relieving men of any responsibility to behave themselves.

This type of thinking is madness and puts impressionable women at risk. If they are encouraged to believe they can drink themselves in to oblivion without thinking this leaves them vulnerable to sexual predators, than more assaults will occur and the phony “1 and 5 college women are raped myth may actually become real.

We live in very strange times, where narratives that fit an agenda are pushed as reality and gaping holes of illogic are filled with magical thinking.  I worry about my nieces and how this type of nonsense will affect their judgment as they enter young adulthood.

Women their age are continually bombarded with the message that the right to do anything with anyone at any time somehow means empowerment. This is not only dangerous, but also enfeebling, as it assumes women are incapable of controlling their bodies and making sound decisions.

Girls and young women need to be taught about the world as it exists, not a pretend one where actions have no consequences. I can promise you no knight in shiny social justice warrior armor will be riding to the rescue of someone caught in a bad situation and empty platitudes about “patriarchal models of societal masculinity” will offer cold comfort.

A responsible and clear thinking woman practicing good judgment empowers herself and repels predators. It’s time get back to teaching these basics with no apologies to the magical thinking crowd trying to bully reality out of the picture.