Am I being oversensitive?

[Pootles2010]

Just seen the East Riding of Yorkshire Police's Christmas Campaign - the strapline is 'let your hair down, not your guard', with a line underneath 'Alcohol features in two thirds of all rapes'. This makes me quite uneasy, not sure if it should? What are others thoughts on it?

I don't have the stats SGM

However when the law changed there was a massive advertising campaign aimed at men to try and get the message across that women have to consent to sex and it is the man's responsibility to ensure that it is true consent.

There has also recently been the drink aware campaigns directed at men and women in the adverts.

Do you have a link to the advert - male or females portrayed in the advert? I can't find anything on Humberside Police website.

Unprunes - there definitely was a campaign about it but as the law changed in 2003 then it might take a while to find it on google. Hang on I will see if I can find it

shows a still

Am sure there will be links on youtube etc on the campaign but got to go to bed!

i think the issue of 'consent' needs to be really explored and drummed in at secondary level sex ed. both for boys and girls.

girls to really understand that they have the right to say no, that they don't have to go through with something if they don't want to etc (think girls can often really lack confidence in this area and do more than they intended because they didn't have the confidence to stop it at the point they became uncomfortable).

and for boys to get the message across young and across clear that sex without clear consent from someone in a position to give that consent and old enough to be able to legally give consent is rape.

I think part of th eproblem with sex education (as with education on drugs and alcohol) is that it doesn't really focus on the most important thing about sex, which is that it should be enjoyable and fun for both (all) involved. It seems to me that if that was made more clear to both boys and girls then perhaps boys would understand that active and enthusiastic participation is a prerequisite, and that girls would get a clearer message that if you are not enjoying any part of the encounter, then the right thing to do is to stop. But I'm sure that sort of message would make a lot of people very uncomfortable.

I think anything that helps people not to binge drink would be great, but I don't think that focusing on rape in this way is at all helpful. I guess it would be more balanced if there was a corresponding ad for men along the lines of "alcohol features in (whatever large % of stats) of all fights" with the implication that if you drink too much and then get bottled or something then it's all your own fault that would at least be even handed.

that's a good example nooka. in the fighting scenario as in the men who fight when they get pissed because they've lost control, become emotionally driven etc the advert is fine, relevant and worth giving as in the person could avoid their own problem caused directly by their drinking.

the rape victim of course is more like the person who happened to be sat at the bar and glassed - their drinking didn't lead directly to them being violently attacked, the person sick enough to shove a glass in a persons face did.

the only way to avoid the glass in the face would have been not to have been there in that place and time within arms reach of a violent arsehold. same as the rape victim. so unless we're advocating only arseholes and rapists go out it is senseless.

the don't walk home alone, don't get so drunk you make poor decisions or don't have good awareness of what's going on around you etc is good advice but doesn't need to focus on rape.

there are violent criminals out there who prey on people without their wits about them and/or walking alone at night to mug and/or beat someone up far more frequently than the rapist down a dark alley. so actually this kind of advice is more relevant to males as they are far more likely to be attacked than women in these circumstances.

i'd really rather they focussed their resources on keeping known rapists off the streets.

Because keeping your guard "up" in terms of not drinking, is such a successful rape-avoidance strategy. Oh no, it isn't is it? The campaign's bollocks then? Whoops.

I agree also I have read that most rape victims are sober. The wording here seems deliberately neutral, so IMO they are probably using figures that include rapes where the man has been drinking, rather than the victim. In which case, it's pretty disturbing.