On Campus Blog

How much should female students be warned about binge drinking?

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Warning or blame? (Jenn Durfey via Flickr)

Slate contributor Emily Yoffe tells MPR' Daily Circuit how she feels about the backlash she has received after she warned that female students increase their risk of sexual assault when they drink too much:

"I remain baffled. My piece made very clear the people responsible for the crimes are the perpetrators, period. However ... there have been many studies showing that rape on campus is almost entirely committed by people known to the victim. Eighty-plus percent of these crimes take place when the victim is highly intoxicated. And there is some kind of prohibition about discussing what young women can do to reduce their chances of becoming victims of people who are predators. ... I think that everyone who criticized me probably locked their front door and their car door that same day. There are just basic things people do to keep themselves from becoming victims of property crimes. ... Why wouldn't we make very explicit, 'Hey, you can go to a party, you can have fun. But you really need to keep your wits about you, because once you lose the capacity to know where you are and what you're doing, bad people can come do bad things to you'?"

You can read more and listen to the whole conversation here.