Alcohol education is not rape apology

Well said, Karen.

As someone who works to prevent rape and sexual assault this conversation is an important one for us to have in our society, communities, homes and schools.  The health concerns that arise from binge drinking are real for women and men.  The reasons that binge drinking is occurring at such high rates is a question to be asked as well.  What is driving the behavior of binge drinking?  We know that trauma contributes to high rates of alcohol and drug use; we also know that alcohol and drug abuse is highly correlated with experiencing and committing crimes.  The problem and the answers are more complex than simply taking "one side or the other" -- real solutions come from understanding the complexity of rape and sexual assault behavior-- what drives it within a society and what maintains it at the individual level. Most importantly are what informed strategies do we take that prevent it from happening in the first place.