Apart from the landmark case concerning a snail in a bottle of ginger beer, one of the other clear memories from my ancient UK law degree is that ‘drunkenness is no defence’. Although it gets a bit technical with voluntary intoxication (drinking more than your body weight), involuntary intoxication (having your drink spiked), and your intent, the general rule is you can’t plead innocence because you were off your trolley.
It’s quite a topical subject in the UK at the moment, and our government has delivered its weekly case study. MP Chris Pincher recently resigned as Deputy Chief Whip after drunkenly groping two men in a nightclub. This is the second time he has resigned over sexual misconduct allegations in five years, and several MPs have apparently raised concerns about him before. Politico has now revealed that the MP they reported having a ‘minder’ in case he got too drunk was, in fact, Pincher. In other words, this doesn’t look too out of character.
In his resignation statement, Pincher cited his drunkenness rather than the assault. Probably wise to do so, given that he could face charges, but it’s interesting and predictable that he’d seek to focus on ‘the drink’. It’s also interesting that although colleagues took measures to prevent him from doing what he loved to do, there weren’t any material consequences for him. Indeed, the Prime Minister promoted him to the Deputy Chief Whip position despite his previous behaviour.
Rather than alcohol consumption, this culture of enablement allowed and probably encouraged Pincher to do what he did.
Look, we’ve (nearly) all done stupid things after quaffing one too many. Whether it’s a drunken karaoke performance or a budget-busting online purchase, drink can definitely cause a pang of regret. When it comes to sexually assaulting other people, though, most of us manage to refrain no matter how smashed we are.
Visit any British city on a Friday or Saturday night, and you’ll see lots of drunk men. (I’m going with men here because they do most of the assaulting.) It’s not a pretty sight. Remarkably, most of them manage to get themselves home with no damage to the public at large. Some might vomit over the neighbour’s garden wall, but that’s usually as far as it goes.
The idea that drinking turns men into sexually violent predators is ridiculous and incredibly insulting.
Gropers grope, and rapists rape. Too much of the sauce might make them more likely to do so, but don’t go telling me it’s normal man behaviour. As science writer, Maggie Koerth wrote, —
“When a man feels entitled to assault someone, he may get drunk before he does it, but the decision to act was ultimately his alone.”
Another scenario where ‘the drink’ comes in is when predatory men use the drunkenness of their victim as a defence. Whether these men are drunk or sober, they will use the state of the other person to mitigate the offence, if not paint themselves as doing what any red-blooded male would do. It’s presented as the woman’ asking for it’.
What’s a man to do?
Or —
“What did she expect getting herself into that state?”
Again, the idea that it’s natural for men to take advantage of hopelessly drunk people insults men everywhere. Most men realise and accept that people being drunk is not an invitation to touch them unless they’re helping them.
And don’t get me started on the double standards applied when women are drunk.
Okay, I’ve started. Surprise, surprise — drunkenness standards are applied completely differently to female victims. When we’re walking home after a night out, it’s bad enough that we’re a) alone and b) out after 9pm, but if there’s alcohol involved? Suddenly, society seems to partly excuse the offender and partly blame the victim. There’s a collective blank on whether or not drinking, rather than assaulting, is a crime.
While we no longer place women on the witness stand quite as much as we used to, there’s still plenty of tutting when a woman is assaulted (or worse) after a night out. Well-meaning advice to walk in twos, not stay out too late or drink too much all attack the women’s choices while the real offence takes a back seat. Like it or not, society still looks for partial responsibility for sexual assault, especially when the woman’s been drinking.
Let’s change all of this. We don’t want to hear how much alcohol he consumed or what the victim was doing or wearing. We need to remember that THERE IS NO CONTRIBUTORY ELEMENT TO SEXUAL ASSAULT.
As Rape Crisis says —
“Raping or sexually assaulting someone is always a crime and 100% of the blame, shame and responsibility for that crime lies with the perpetrator or perpetrators.”
—
This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Shutterstock