Passion versus logic

California now has a “Yes Means Yes” law intended to deter sexual assault on campus. Under this law, to make love legally, each partner must agree as they tag each base.

“Just because she said yes to being kissed doesn’t mean she said yes to having her breast touched,” explained Professor of Sociology Pepper Schwartz at the University of Washington.

Schwartz told me that anybody who thinks you can replace wanton lust with a logical step-by-step government questionnaire, hasn’t been to college lately.

“You’ve got to get the root of the problem,” she said, “which I think is the serious cultural permission to get drunk out of your mind.”

Schwartz said today’s party culture is so out of control that before the typical hookup, the average girl has had four drinks, and the average guy has had seven.

So yes, the law clearly states that an intoxicated girl is incapable of giving legal consent even if she said “yes.” But the guy she’s with is too drunk to realize that, and often, too drunk to realize he’s too drunk.

In fact, Dr. Schwartz has dared to say that it’s unfair to assume the guy is always at fault when the girl also decided to drink too much.

“I don’t think the woman is always the losing person in this situation,” Schwartz said. “Any mother of a son does not want her son to be accused of rape and be labeled a sexual predator for the rest of his life.”

Bottom line: Schwartz said if colleges really want to prevent sexual assault, they have to understand the real issue isn’t the sex.

“I do think the issue is about alcohol.”

Put it this way:
The rules bind us all,
but although, clearly stated,
they’re hard to recall,
when you’re dead-drunk and naked.