“This girl and I are trashed. I’m so getting laid.”
My boyfriend got that text, along with a picture of an attractive blonde perched on a counter. It was sent by one of his friends to a group chat of six guys— and he had already decided he was "getting laid" because they were drunk. However, intoxication doesn't entitle you to someone else's body and it isn't an excuse to feed desire.
According to the CDC, alcohol impairs brain function, resulting in poor judgment, reduced reaction, loss of balance/motor skills and a lack of alertness. Despite all the research we have to back up these effects, they're ignored in issues and cases involving alcohol and consent.
Your brain is the decision-maker of your body. It takes into account pros, cons, guilt and reasoning, then uses all that information to make the right choice. When your brain's impaired, you’re physically incapable of making good judgment calls.
That means it’s impossible for someone to consent to sexual activity when they can’t reason with themselves and don’t know what they’re saying yes to. It’s impossible to consent when they can barely walk or talk. It’s impossible to consent when they aren’t alert or completely aware of what’s happening to their body.
Not many people seem to understand that— including the boys who saw that photo. My boyfriend suggested the two shouldn't have sex because neither of them were in a position to properly consent. The other guys responded with, “Don’t listen to him.” “Ignore him.”
One said, “It’s just rape, bruh. Six months.”
Just rape. Six months. That idea comes from a long trail of victim-blaming, alcohol consumption and the result of the Brock Turner rape case. The victim’s intoxication factored heavily into the trial and questioning, making it seem as if her own impairment was to blame for what happened to her. And she wasn't the first one that happened to.
In a CNN report about the recent plea deal involving John Enochs and his dropped rape charges, former Philadelphia assistant district attorney Jennifer Long said, “In cases where alcohol is involved, it highlights a double standard … Perpetrators become less blameworthy and victims become more responsible for what happened to them.”
Brock Turner tried to blame his drinking and said that his judgment was impaired. And while it’s true that he couldn’t properly make decisions, that doesn’t lay the blame on the alcohol. He still made a choice to take advantage of an intoxicated woman. Drinking doesn’t excuse his actions. His victim wasn’t alert. She wasn’t responsive. She wasn’t aware. If anything, her intoxication proves that she couldn't consent to what he was doing.
Yet lawyers and courts continuously use alcohol as a scapegoat for rapists. Rapists think that if they’re intoxicated or if their victim is intoxicated, they can’t be blamed. That thinking has leaked into the millennial generation. Court verdicts have reinforced the idea that alcohol acts as a free pass and has caused people to disregard consent if they or the other party is drunk.
But as more information and court cases come to light in the United States, people have started to acknowledge that there are more impaired decisions to be made than drunk driving. A community of people around the world has started to speak up against the role of alcohol in rape cases and why victims can't be held accountable.
The problem is students who go out to get drunk and laid won't listen to a short post highlighting the dangers of drunk sex. They're too concerned with "loosening up" to bother understanding what consent really is. Alcohol will continue to be used as an excuse to get laid until we directly address the problem and the court system decides to acknowledge the disgusting ideals they'e presenting to society.