In keeping with The Badger Herald’s rich history of struggling mightily against all logic and reason, last Thursday’s editorial against rape victims even contradicted its own previous stand on the issue. The matter at hand is a proposal by Rep. Terese Berceau to reinstate alcohol on the list of intoxicants for sexual assault.
During the 2001-2002 school year, the Herald found that, “Narrowly crafted, this bill is an important way to legitimately address the problem of sexual assault. While it won’t be passed in time for this weekend, it should be in place for years to come.” Without any change in the language of the bill, the 2002-2003 school year saw the Editorial Board reverse position and declare, “The use of alcohol is a choice that has inherent risk; its use does not relieve the drinker of all personal responsibility.” Ah yes, she asked for it because she was drunk. And probably wearing a short skirt.
Aside from the journalistic nightmare of editorializing against your own stances, this piece is as morally offensive as I’ve ever seen on these opinion pages, a substantial feat to be sure. It is also demonstrably ignorant of the facts, which I will attempt to remedy below.
Wisconsin is the only state in the country where rape victims who were incapacitated by alcohol are treated differently from rape victims who were incapacitated by other drugs. All that Berceau’s proposal does is make Wisconsin’s law the same as the other 49 states, where either alcohol is defined as an intoxicant or an intoxicant is defined as “something that intoxicates,” a definition that clearly covers alcohol. It also makes our state statutes internally consistent, because in every other definition of intoxicant in our state’s laws, alcohol is included.
Why is this so important? Justice. Ask Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, who is on the front lines every day trying sexual assault cases. Being the sane and decent man that he is, Blanchard is a strong supporter of the bill because he has worked with rape victims who have no judicial recourse because of this loophole for rapists.
In the flip-flop editorial, the Herald trots out a long list of what-ifs and possibilities for abuse, professing concern for “the rights of the accused.” If the Herald had researched its opinion before publishing it, they would know that, even though this was the law of the land for many decades until 1997, there is zero evidence of cases of systemic abuse or “‘after the fact’ accusations.” The Herald and many others need to be disabused of this frequently cited myth of the angry ex that cries rape. Statistics show that the chance of being falsely accused of rape is the same as being falsely accused of murder or armed robbery.
The Herald also attempts to rationalize the distinction between alcohol and the currently listed intoxicants because alcohol is taken willfully. This false distinction ignores the fact that most currently listed intoxicants are taken willfully, including marijuana, heroin, cocaine and codeine. This list of intoxicants is not based on probable method of use; it is based on the fact that all of these intoxicants can, in great enough dosage, render someone incapacitated.
The point of this bill is that if someone is lying on the ground, drooling, totally incapacitated and is subsequently raped, that crime should not be treated differently based on whether it was heroin or alcohol that incapacitated the victim. Currently, the case involving heroin is prosecutable with a simple toxicology screen serving as evidence of incapacitation, but the alcohol case is not prosecutable. The great tragedy of this loophole, of course, is that the vast majority of sexual assaults, especially on campus, fall into the latter category. As the Herald said in its editorial last school year, “Unfortunately, this correlation is willfully ignored under current state sexual-assault law.”
Thursday’s editorial says to rape survivors that if they decided to drink, they decided to get raped. As former Herald editor Benjamin Thompson stated, “This is an indefensible opinion. What is next, blaming women for rape because they choose to dress provocatively? Poor argument, poor research, poor consistency, poor editorial.” Women and men deserve the right to drink and by exercising that right, they do not surrender their right not to be raped. No one deserves to be raped. No one.
The Herald’s misguided opinion is particularly troubling given the expanse of the sexual assault epidemic on our campus. One in eight female UW undergraduates are vaginally, anally or orally sexually assaulted just during their short academic career here. Take a look around the next classroom you enter and do the math.
Fortunately, many of us students are taking action against this epidemic. You can join us by attending the kickoff meeting for the student group Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment next Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m., TITU. We encourage students concerned about sexual assault on campus as well as Herald Editorial Board members to come, get educated and get active.
Austin King is a senior majoring in Spanish. He serves as the legislative issues coordinator for PAVE.