Introduction
Alcohol related sexual assault is a common phenomenon in college campuses. College is where young students get a place to venture with both liquor and sex, and the fusion of the two can lead to both inappropriate and risky situations for young women and men. It can happen when a someone is taken advantage of because they are drunk and incapable of thinking straight , or due to a spiked drink (date rape drug) is used as a catalyst to make a situation where the intended target of the assault is weak and can’t fight back.
Sexual assault and alcohol; where alcohol acts as a catalyst. It’s not the case where one can assure of no sexual assault in absence of alcohol. But very categorically alcohol can take sexual assault, to a level, entirely away from a usual sexual assault, which can’t be categorised and generalised.
To understand the topic better, I read two articles. In the first article “alcohol and sexual assault victimization: Research findings and future directions”; Katherine Lorenz and Sarah E. Ullman illustrate the prevalence of alcohol-involved sexual assaults. According to them “assaults varies by population subgroup. The assaults tend to be most common among college-aged. Although alcohol and other illicit substances can be administered without consent, the majority of pre-assault alcohol use is voluntary”. They categorically assert the fact that sexual violence is never the victim’s fault. In every circumstance the responsibility for assault always lies with the perpetrator. Extant research has steadily established a connection between liquor and sexual assault, though alcohol’s exact role in assault remains ambiguous.
Further study of alcohol and sexual assault surmise that reducing heavy drinking may reduce sexual assault. Alcohol-involved sexual assaults have higher risks factors compared to force-only assault. Around half of all sexual assaults involve pre-assault liquor consumption by the victim, perpetrator, or both.
Alcohol use may place women at increased vulnerability for assault due to the combination of physiological effects of alcohol and risky situations that involve motivated perpetrators. Additionally, sexual assault may lead to alcohol use and further elevated risk for subsequent assaults. Thus, “a cyclical relationship may exist where alcohol use increases risk for assault, which then leads to drinking to cope with trauma symptoms, which then puts one at risk for subsequent assault”.
The purpose of their article is to analyse and understand that alcohol related assaults appear to have varied effects on recovery in terms of their acknowledgement, labeling, self-blame attributions, coping strategies, and social reactions from support sources.Thus, quantitative and qualitative studies are required to understand women’s recovery process and how it differs for alcohol-related assaults both in college and community samples. Educative programmes aiming at the prevention of further occurrence. Assault types have to be assessed for the survivors may need different kinds of help to make sense of and recover from alcohol related experiences that are more likely to be discounted and explained away or blamed, given that cultural scripts in our society still hold women responsible for drinking and view women as sexually available and legitimate targets if drinking or drunk. The gendered context of alcohol/drinking and its different meanings for men and women as well as the normative connection between alcohol and sex in our society, must be taken into account. Both men and women still reflected in societal stereotypes of men, women, and rape in various media, such as pornography, video games, movies, and books.
The second article “Incapacitated rape and alcohol use: A prospective analysis”explains how, “Alcohol use can act as both risk factor and consequence of sexual victimization. Alcohol acts as a catalyst in sexual assault. It’s not the case where one can assure of no sexual assault in absence of alcohol; nevertheless alcohol can take the sexual assault to a level which can’t be categorised and generalised. In simple words, the relationship between sexual assaults and alcohol use is a complex one”.
Sexual assaults of an inebriated victim (incapacitated rape) is different from forcible rapes. However, even smaller amounts of alcohol use were linked with a higher risk of sexual assault; the risk of assault was 3 times higher on days when moderate to light drinking was reported than the rates on non-drinking days. Rapes where victims are heavily intoxicated may also be more violent, may be more likely to involve penetration, and may be associated with less victim resistance, than those where victims have consumed less alcohol.
When a person is intoxicated it effects can make it more difficult for a person to detect and correct misperceptions of his/her intentions regarding sexual contact. Intoxicated women come as an easy target for sexually aggressive men.
The things I deduce from both the articles are that: it’s very difficult to articulate exact role of alcohol in the cases of sexual assault. There is a direct link of alcohol to sexual assault. Incapacitated rape has a possibility to induce increased alcohol consumption in the victim, resulting in the chances for further assaults turning it into a vicious circle. This assignment is a precursor into my interest and research into the connection of sexual assault with alcohol.
Methods
For this assignment, I first conducted a survey from students at CSUMB campus through the survey site, Google forms. A copy of the survey is included in results , and in it I asked the students if they had been sexually assaulted, how old they were during the assault, and if they were intoxicated during the assault. And if they weren’t sexually assaulted i had a seperate set of questions asking them for their opinions. The intention behind this survey was to find out whether alcohol consumption has an effect on sexual assaults or no.
Results
To conduct the survey I circulated a questionnaire at CSUMB campus. The questionnaire comprised of 9 questions. The result is drawn of 8 respondents. The average age of the respondents is 18 years.
25% of the group affirmed sexual assault. Among the 25% of the people who were sexually assaulted; in one half there was no alcohol consumption,but in the other half both the victim and perpetrator were intoxicated. Among the 75% who were not sexually assaulted, 37.5% knew people who were victim of sexual harassment. And 35% agreed to the connection between alcohol and sexual assault.
Discussion
The purpose behind this assignment was to determine and understand the influence and connection of alcohol and sexual assault. Sexual assault is a common occurrence. Myriad factors influence it. The role of alcohol plays in sexual assaults is yet not very clear. However, in college campuses sexual assaults with the influence of alcohol is quite rampant. This egged me to go ahead and take up the assignment to study the interconnection of alcohol and sexual assault.
In the survey i conducted it is clear that, like me, most of the students are confused about the role of alcohol in sexual assaults. Although they couldn’t decidedly ascertain the role of alcohol in sexual assault yet they are unable to absolve alcohol of its influence in assaults. That’s why in the survey 62.5% respondents have voted for ‘may be’. And interestingly the remaining 37.5% respondents clearly voted yes. And not a single respondent denied the significance of alcohol in sexual assaults.
Conclusion
Sexual assault is never the victim’s fault. College campuses should be more safer. Students should be vigilant and smart with their choices. Although they are into the phase of experimenting with alcohol; they should educate themselves with the consequences of irresponsible alcohol use. Some times they are unable to envisage the consequences entailed. And also it is nearly difficult to bring the perpetrators to book because of the inebriated state of victim. Students should make sure that they are surrounded with the people they trust, while drinking. And above all, it’s highly imperative for victims to approach for help. Victims at any cost should seek help; emotional, physical, psychological.
