Alcohol and Sexual Violence

Do you know about www.dosomething.org? It's a very cool website with lots of information on how to get involved in social change. The information below is timely in light of the recent movie, Observe and Report. I haven't seen the movie, but apparently it includes a rape scene that involves alcohol and drugs and is supposed to illicit laughs from the audience. You'll notice I don't use the term "date rape" because I don't really know why people keep promoting the term anyway.

"Date rape" is not a legal term.

Rape is a felony crime and our dialog should treat it as such. Using the term date rape fosters the hostility that rape survivors already experience from our culture-at-large and engenders a false dichotomy that some types of rape aren't as bad as other types of rape. That is a complete diversion from cogent dialog about rape and sexual violence in our culture.

Information below from www.dosomething.org.

Rape by Intoxication Campaign Launches
Submitted by vmartir on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 17:21.
Related Causes:
Violence Against Women,
Violence And Bullying
A Web site aimed at educating high school-aged students about the crime of rape by intoxication was unveiled Thursday by law enforcement officials and community leaders in San Diego.
The website, KnowThePrice.org, was created to address a 60% increase in the number of reported cases of rape by intoxication in the county from 2007 to 2008. The site includes compelling videos featuring interviews with sexual assault victims, a prosecutor, police detective, sexual assault response team doctor and college fraternity members -- all giving first-person accounts designed to educate young people about rape by intoxication.
The problem isn’t exclusive to San Diego or to high school-aged students. In a national study of college students, 75% of males and 55% of females involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs prior to the assault.
Though never an excuse or cause for rape, alcohol can be part of the equation. Alcohol can affect both men and women, but most importantly, it also affects those skills that can protect a person from being involved in a sexual assault. Remember, regardless of how much a person drinks, no one is ever justified in forcing sex if the other party resists, says "no," or is under the influence of alcohol.
Want to do something about the increasing problem of rape by intoxication?