H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
That makes sense.
I'd say it'd be interesting if, instead of directly telling teens and young adult to not get drunk (which is useless, because they will anyway) they would be taught how to be more careful with what they do when they've been drinking. I know women that thought nothing would happen and went back home alone. And nothing happened but it could have. And it's a risk that isn't really worth taking.
That is certainly something that could be pushed more in schools from a younger age. The fact that alcohol seems to be viewed as somehow giving more license to take advantage of or excuse sexual assault is a real thing. This 'gray' area for a lot of people exists alongside those that just rape because they know it's wrong and don't care, and results in more rapes than the 'evil alleyway boogeyman' rapist. It's not really addressed at all in high school and it should be. I don't think we even had any such classes or discussions when I was in school, high school or college.
Yeah, you say that and I agree but its kind of hard to directly appeal to people who are committing crimes. Someone who rapes a drunk woman in the street isn't someone you can target an advert to and they'll go 'oh God, what have I been doing? I didn't realise that was rape!' They know what they did.
The adverts made that do target men are about parties and the meaning of consent. I mean, maybe you're American but here in the UK there's been a lot of targeted advertising to young men from the government. Not just about consent but abuse in relationships, etc...I even saw one at the cinema the other day. The UK does actually do these things.
Yes, it is hard. And you're right. Adverts on the street aren't going to convince a rapist to stop. That's why it seems like the preferred method is to tell women what to do to prevent their rape constantly. No one wants to invest in social programs, classes, lectures, or discussion in grade school about what it is or why it's wrong. That ruffles feathers, upsets people, is unpopular. The confusion and uncertainly about what even constitutes rape is a very real thing, though. You say that these people who take advantage of drunk victims do realize what they're doing, but in plenty of cases they don't view it as 'rape'. There was a recent report that I remember was in the news that found, "that roughly a third of male university students would rape a woman if there were no consequences though most didnt recognise that these actions were, in fact, rape." This is just a snippet from the report.
Basically, I think that we need to make it clear at a younger age. What it is, about consent, and responsibility. There are 'evil alleyway boogeyman' rapists out there, and public safety measure/punitive and/or rehabilitation methods can target those, but proactive measures to clearly explain and hammer home what the crime is, what damage it causes, that consent matters, and what the consequences would be is surely better than this trite 'advice' that women should be careful when drinking, don't you think?