Spring Break
Rape Victims Are Never Responsible For Their Assault
Laura Alix
Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Commentary
Good news for the anti-feminist movement in America - another "feminist myth" has now been debunked. Wrexham Maelor Hospital in Great Britain recently conducted a study that aimed to analyze the problem of drink-spiking in local nightclubs and pubs. The hospital examined 75 women who alleged that their drinks had been spiked over the course of one year. The hospital discovered that fewer than one in five women had actually been slipped a "date-rape" drug - such as Ketamine, GHB or Rohypnol. Instead what the hospital found was that most of the women were just extremely intoxicated. Sixty-five percent of the patients were found to have twice the blood-alcohol content (BAC) limit for driving, and 24 percent had three times that limit. What this essentially means is that many women in Great Britain - and it is not such a stretch to suggest in America, too - who claim they were drugged have actually instead suffered the result of binge drinking.
A small handful of anti-feminists here in the states have dubbed this story a "Will They Report It Moment," and crowed that this seriously undermines the alleged radical left feminist effort to discredit most men as sexual predators who slip drugs to unwitting victims. "Aha! She wasn't drugged, after all! It's her fault for drinking too much, so don't blame the nearest man!" they seem to be saying. One blogger doubted that the story would get much coverage in the U.S. because of how badly it would surely undermine radical feminism's influence. After all, on the surface, the study could almost be construed as placing some of the blame on the victim. Let's face it - a woman who claims to have been raped under the influence of a date-rape drug like Rohypnol will probably find more sympathy from the general public than will a woman who claims to have been raped when she was only inebriated. The first woman will surely seem like more of a victim, while the second woman will probably be chided for drinking too much and then scolded for blaming some hapless man who only thought he was getting lucky.
A small handful of anti-feminists here in the states have dubbed this story a "Will They Report It Moment," and crowed that this seriously undermines the alleged radical left feminist effort to discredit most men as sexual predators who slip drugs to unwitting victims. "Aha! She wasn't drugged, after all! It's her fault for drinking too much, so don't blame the nearest man!" they seem to be saying. One blogger doubted that the story would get much coverage in the U.S. because of how badly it would surely undermine radical feminism's influence. After all, on the surface, the study could almost be construed as placing some of the blame on the victim. Let's face it - a woman who claims to have been raped under the influence of a date-rape drug like Rohypnol will probably find more sympathy from the general public than will a woman who claims to have been raped when she was only inebriated. The first woman will surely seem like more of a victim, while the second woman will probably be chided for drinking too much and then scolded for blaming some hapless man who only thought he was getting lucky.
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Blake
posted 2/28/07 @ 7:11 PM EST
ketamine is not a date-rape drug... it does not lower inhibitions and doesn't cause retrograde amnesia
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