Alcohol Facilitation

     Alcohol plays a role in the majority of campus assaults. However, this does not mean that we begin and end our prevention message at telling potential victims to drink less alcohol.
     Rather, our messages should focus on environmental and social change. Alcohol, and the environments that it is often found in, create atmospheres of high expectations--particularly around entitlement to other's bodies.       Additionally, predators target those who are drinking heavily, or will use coercive tactics to try to increase drinking; alcohol is the most frequently used rape drug.
     It must be said that someone who is drinking does not in any way deserve sexual assault, nor is it ever their fault. Additionally, perpetrating sexual violence is never excused by alcohol consumption.
     While there are many great reasons to abstain from or drink less alcohol, in an ideal world fear of sexual violence should not be one of them.

Please read content disclaimer

• The Role of Alcohol, College of William and Mary  If someone chooses to drink alcohol, that choice never equates to "asking" to get hurt. It is an offender who chooses to take advantage of another person's level of intoxication to commit an assault. http://web.wm.edu/sexualassault/geteducated_alcohol_role.php
  Tags: Best Practices  Alcohol Facilitation  Consent 
• The Sexual Victimization of College Women, US Department of Justice  The study estimates that a college that has 10,000 female students could experience more than 350 rapes a year, a finding with serious policy implications for college administrators. http://www.nij.gov/pubs-sum/182369.htm
  Tags: Campus   Alcohol Facilitation  Public Health  Research 
• Center for Violence Prevention, College of St Scholastica  This site is meant to help students, faculty, and staff get a clearer understanding of critical issues related to college students such as sexual assault & harassment, alcohol use and violence,and care strategies. http://www.css.edu/Administration/Health-and-Well-Being/Violence-Prevention.html
  Tags: Best Practices  Alcohol Facilitation  Case Studies  Intimate Partner Violence  Campus   Consent 
• Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention  Provides support to all institutions of higher education in their efforts to address the problems related to alcohol and other drug abuse and violence. http://www.higheredcenter.org/
  Tags: Alcohol Facilitation  Public Health 
• The B.E.S.T. (Be Equal, Safe, and Trustworthy) Model: Preventing Sexual and Domestic Violence with Parties Women Love  The BEST Party Model mobilizes a process for campus men to join women in taking responsibility for the process of preventing violence against women at parties. http://menaspeacemakers.org/programs/mnman/BEST
  Tags: Athletes  Bystander Intervention  Community Mobilization  Engaging Men  Masculinity  Social Norms Change  Perpetration  Gender  Alcohol Facilitation  Environmental Change 
• Case Studies and Model Programs in Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention  Over the course of several years, the Higher Education Center has collected information on a variety of AODV prevention programs at institutions of higher education around the U.S. http://higheredcenter.ed.gov/resources/case-studies/browse
  Tags: Environmental Change  Alcohol Facilitation  Prevention  Best Practices  Case Studies 
• Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault: A Common Problem Amongst College Students (PDF:11pages/123KB)  This article reviews the literature on college students' sexual assault experiences. Theories about how alcohol contributes to sexual assault are described; prevention and policy discussed. http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/media/Journal/118-Abbey.pdf
  Tags: Alcohol Facilitation  Research 

Campus Sexual Violence Prevention Portal

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For questions about this page, please contact the Injury and Violence Prevention program at:health.injuryprevention@state.mn.us

See also Health Promotion and Chronic Disease

Alcohol Facilitation Art and Theater Athletes Best Practices Bystander Intervention Campaign Campus Case Studies Coalition Community Mobilization Consent Curricula Engaging Men Environmental Change Family Framing the Issue Gender Institutional Responsibilities Intimate Partner Violence LGBTQ Laws, Policy and Legislation Masculinity Media Perpetration Prevention Public Health Rape Culture Rape Myths Rape and Sexual Violence Crisis Center Reporting Research Response Security Self-Defense Sexual Harassment Social Norms Change Students of Color Theory Toolkit Webinars