BY BETH MT.
In sober circles, we often talk about the chains of being addicted to alcohol and drinking on our own . The ruined events, the hangovers, the broken relationships. The time wasted thinking about alcohol. What we don’t often talk about is the other side of alcohol. The real and present dangers presented to women that being severely intoxicated around other people can bring . Of course, this is not to say that if anything happens to a woman when drunk it is her fault. We know in an ideal world there should be no risks to safety. This article is just to warn what can happen when intoxicated and around the wrong people. I recently watched the film, ‘Promising Young Woman’ . If you haven’t watched it yet, please do. It is about Cassie, a thirty-something waitress, who still lives with her parents and is traumatised by an event from her past which involved her best friend being taken advantage of whilst drunk. Cassie goes around bars and clubs, pretending to be drunk, and then waits to be picked up by Men. The Men are choosing her because she appears to be wasted. Cassie then suddenly sobers up and abuses the men who have tried to take advantage. Whilst the film has some flaws, the premise is perfect . I was so relieved that the filmmakers had the guts to get this issue out there. There are people that will prey on the vulnerable and when women are so wasted, that they barely know their name, they are easy targets to these types of individuals.
Who can forget the case of Brock Turner and the Stanford rape case? In January 2015, Turner sexually assaulted Chanel Miller whilst she was unconscious and severely intoxicated having both attended a frat party earlier. The assault was interrupted by two males who had spotted Turner assaulting Chanel and reprimanded him . His arrest and subsequent trial, led to him receiving a six-month jail sentence of which he only served three months. In her book, know my name Chanel stated: “ I didn’t know that if a woman was drunk when the violence occurred, she wouldn’t be taken seriously . I didn’t know that if he was drunk when the violence occurred, people would offer him sympathy. I didn’t know that my loss of memory would become his opportunity. I didn’t know that being a victim was synonymous with not being believed. ” This is one of the reasons, that women don’t report attacks when drunk and therefore we need to be clear - IT IS NEVER the victim’s fault, EVER. Libby Squire a 21-year-old university student in Hull (UK) was murdered by the Father of two, Pawel Relowicz on the evening of 31st January 2019. After a night out with friends, Libby had been refused entry to a music venue as she was too intoxicated. Her friends had put her in a taxi home, sadly she did not return home and was seen a mile away from her house crying and sobbing in the street.
HOLA SOBER AUGUST 2022
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