Getting Someone Drunk to Have Sex = Slipping Them a Drug to Have Sex

 

(TRIGGER WARNING: Rape, Drugs, Alcohol)

We know that  ‘Roofies’ (Rohypnol), Ketamine, and GHB are referred to as Date Rape Drugs, and even the most biologically challenged of political figures can attest that “legitimate” or “forcible” rape is punishable.

Though I guess that does signify some progress, there are still (apparently) too many blurred lines.

“No means no” is not enough when it comes to teaching and understanding consent.

From adolescents to professional musicians, it seems as though the public at large has received a serious miseducation in discerning a true “yes” from an implicit “no.”

So let me break it down for you.

What Is Consent?

Consent occurs only when an adult is of sound mind and body and says an enthusiastic “yes” without outside influence swaying their decision.

Only Adults Can Consent to Other Adults

It doesn’t matter if an underage party seems to initiate contact. They cannot consent.

It doesn’t matter if the underage person “seems older” than their actual age. They cannot consent.

It doesn’t matter how any underage person dresses. They cannot consent.

Minors can’t even go on a school field trip to the park without an adult guardian’s permission. Why would they be able to consent to sex?

A Sound Mind Is One Fully Capable of Making Decisions

You cannot make decisions on your own if your brain is unconscious or asleep. You cannot make decisions on your own if your brain’s usual function is compromised by injury or intoxication.

This applies in any context. So why would sex be any different?

A Sound Body Is One with Full Autonomy

You cannot exercise control if your body is unconscious or asleep. You cannot exercise control if your body’s normal functioning is compromised by imposed restrictions or intoxication.

If a body is malfunctioning relative to its normal state, it cannot have sex.

Only ‘Yes’ Means ‘Yes’

 I don’t care if you “Play Hard to Get.” If you truly want to have sex, you will make it explicitly clear to all parties involved.

Same goes for any potential partner. There should be no doubt whatsoever.

This way, everyone’s desires and limits are communicated and honored.

Outside Factors Matter

Your history with a potential partner absolutely comes into play when it comes to sex.

In student-teacher relationships, employer-employee relationships, and “The Casting Couch” phenomenon in the performing arts, there is a blatant imbalance of power.

Can the student, employee, or performer (respectively) really say no without fear?

If one person feels as though they owe sex to the other, their true feelings and desires are not actually considered.

Based on that breakdown, you can probably see the connection between getting someone drunk to have sex and slipping someone drugs to have sex.

Either way, consent is not possible.

Either way, it is attempted rape.

Can I Buy You a Drink?

Throughout history, alcohol has been a staple in adult interaction.

Heavy drinking and binge drinking are often ridiculed or vilified, but casual, social drinking flies under the radar.

What do you do when you’re out and see someone attractive? Offer to buy them a drink. Why not? That’s the norm.

The gesture of buying a drink isn’t really that shady.

Buying someone a drink with the hope or expectation of getting sex in return, however, is completely manipulative and dehumanizing.

I don’t care if you give me ten courses of gourmet macaroni and cheese, backstage passes to Elton John, or enough Hendrix Gin to fill an aquarium: You cannot barter to have sex with me. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Sex is not a commodity to trade.

Even if it was, sex is way better than even the most pretentious apothecary-style cocktail, so it wouldn’t be a fair trade.

Don’t be the Conductor of the Hot Mess Express

Getting someone liquored up for any reason makes the drunken party unable to fully understand that they are not, in fact, able to function normally.

Not only that, but if you’re the one buying the drinks, you’re the one putting someone in that position.

We’ve all seen someone proclaim “I’m FINE!” before stumbling into the gutter to vomit copious amounts of tequila. Depending on my state of mind, that scenario brings about appropriate pity or inappropriate laughter.

Both reactions come from the same place: I can see that the drunken person is so out of control that they cannot see how out of control they truly are.

This is before attempted sexual contact even comes into the picture, and it’s already not cool.

But Date Rape Drugs are Sneaky!

I’m not arguing with you there.

Just getting your hands on Rohypnol, GHB, or Ketamine requires major trickery. Research for this article has made me nauseated at the thought of how much effort goes into buying and selling these substances, and still so many people use them.

When the drugs are in effect, recipients can lose their sense of identity, let alone full consciousness.

Some would rather not equate getting someone drunk to giving them drugs, since drinkers are (hopefully) aware that they can become intoxicated. The secrecy and deceit involved in slipping a roofie in your date’s piña colada while they go to the bathroom seems straight-up evil compared to merely buying a few extra shots of Jameson for the pretty person at the bar.

Here’s the thing, though: Girls can’t hold their liquor. Nobody actually can.

There are too many factors which impact the body’s absorption of alcohol that are beyond your immediate control. Not to mention, alcohol intoxication affects multiple parts of your brain.

No matter how invincible anyone feels while drinking, they are not in control.

Bottom line: Alcohol and drugs both make users lose control of their minds and bodies.

Where Power Comes into Play

At this point, I am sure you have noticed that the words “power” and “control” come up frequently in discussions of consent, rape, and drug-facilitated sexual assault. This isn’t a repetition issue for the editor to fix.

Consent only takes place when both parties have complete control over themselves and do not take away their partner’s power.

Notice also that I refrain from using the phrase “consensual sex.” This is completely intentional. Saying “consensual sex” implies that there is such a thing as “non-consensual sex.”

“Non-consensual sex” isn’t sex, though. It’s rape.

Rape is not sex. It is sexual violence. Acts of violence involve “an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power.”