Alcohol Sexual Assault

Introduction How can we really define rape when alcohol is involved? Alcohol-related sexual assault is a very common occurrence amongst college students, especially when they know each other. These situations often occur at house parties, sororities, or even at parents’ houses. Alcohol has always been used as an excuse for committing such horrendous actions. Even though alcohol consumption disrupts higher-order cognitive processes such as conceptualization, planning and problem solving, people know what they’re doing, especially those with the negative intentions.
Thoughts/ Opinions This chapter is about how rape has been interpreted throughout the years and how there are several types of rapes. The chapter points out an important article
that is based on rape at a commonplace, school. With school being a commonplace for that, it doesn’t mean that those actions necessarily occur inside. The short article that the author provided was based on alcohol-related sexual assault. According to the author, alcohol usually impairs the ability to rectify misperceptions and it diminishes the ability to resist. I actually believe that is true. When alcohol is consumed, it is rapidly absorbed into the blood. As soon as the blood alcohol concentration increases, a person’s fast ability to respond decreases. When this occurs, people don’t know what it is going on around them, which is when most men take advantage of the situation, especially when they think they won’t get caught. Even though sometimes men may take advantage, sometimes they think that they are just following women’ games. Most men mistake a woman’s friendly action for a flirtatious one. Not only that, but they also believe and feel that they are justified in forcing rape when they are led on or teased by their date. This article taught me several things. One of the things was the fact that those female college students who were surveyed during their whole college experience, reported a decrease on sexual assault. I think this occurred due to the fact that female college students were less involved in school activities, such as parties or sororities. In my opinion, one main issue regarding this topic is the fact that there are peer environments that actually encourage heavy drinking and sexual assault.
One great example of this, are the sororities and fraternities. These peer groups encourage getting drunk as a justification for engaging in embarrassing behaviors, act in a different manner, and have sex. This example makes it seem like a very common unserious thing to do which makes young people believe that it is okay to force someone to have sex. One important thing that everyone must keep in mind is the fact that alcohol increases the probability of the occurring of sexual assault among acquaintances.
Critical Points One critical point that the author conveys is that these types of situations can be prevented by providing prevention programs, however, there are policy implications. One policy implication is that the individuals that are responsible for programs for the prevention of alcohol misuse, must actually work with the other individuals that are responsible for programs for the prevention of sexual assault. Even though these individuals must work together, the programs that prevent the misuse of alcohol don't focus on sexual assault as a consequence of alcohol overall. Another critical point that the author pointed out, is the fact that the effects of alcohol are based on peoples’ beliefs. When people believe that they won’t do such things if they are not intoxicated, they are more likely to drink in order to be able to do those
things.