The landlord’s friend would continually torment Amy about this, blaming her for being so drunk. He let himself into the flat and made Amy feel like he might attack her at any time. He knew that she was desperately ashamed of what had happened, and he used her shame to exert power over her. Amy moved out of the flat shortly afterward, but the repercussion and emotional pain of that night stayed with her for years. Amy’s experience demonstrates an attack that was premeditated, but I don’t think that this is always the case. * Emily* a professional from the South of England told me about a situation she found herself in a few years ago - She had attended a house party where everyone was drinking vast amounts of alcohol and she li ke many others had passed out on the sofa. She was woken during the night by one of the men from the party sexually assaulting her . She managed to fight him off and it was never mentioned again . The fact that she had been drunk stopped her from reporting him, she felt that no one would believe her, and the excuse would be that they were both very drunk. And this is part of the issue, the shame, and fear that the girls were so drunk that they ‘allowed’ this to happen: “Intoxicated female victims of rape are more likely to be blamed or assigned some responsibility for the rape than sober victims.” - Ref1 And there you have it. The prejudice that a victim had consumed alcohol is apparent and immediately adds another dimension of shame for the already traumatised victim of the attack. Attitudes need to change, but that is for a different article , yet it is another layer that victims will need to deal with. I have been very careful to explain all the risks of drinking alcohol to my children, particularly my daughter. We sat down together to watch, ‘A Promising Young Woman’ and we discussed the subject matter at length. We have also discussed how alcohol changes everyone involved in the activity. In 2016/17 in England and Wales, in 35.8% of sexual assault cases the offender was under the influence of alcohol (Ref2) so within that 35.8% of cases, had the perpetrator not had alcohol, the attacks may not have taken place. The truth is that none of us know how alcohol is going to change us, and every time we drink to excess, we are playing Russian roulette with our lives.
Relowicz found Libby who was extremely upset and possibly hypothermic and invited her into his car. He later admitted that he was driving around the town looking for a woman to have ‘easy sex’ with. Unfortunately for Libby, he found her . At the trial Professor Charles Deakin stated that Libby would have been: "vulnerable to a number of threats", including cold weather, impaired decision-making, and a lowered ability to assess threats from others "in terms of assessing their intent and interactions". Relowicz took full advantage of Libby’s impaired state and viciously raped and killed her . Relowicz was looking for a woman to attack and sadly Libby was easy prey. The cases of Chanel Miller and Libby Squires are extreme and horrific and do not, thankfully, happen every day. But be under no illusions - attacks, when the victim is under the influence, are not unusual. I recently spoke with a lady called *Amy* , and she told me about a particularly harrowing event in her life. Amy was flat sharing with a much older man, who had seemed friendly and kind. He had allowed her rent a room in his rather plush flat in a really good part of town at a very reasonable rate . She was in her early twenties, and the seemingly kind ma n was in his forties. This kind man had a friend who visited him regularly at the flat and although Amy was a bit unsure of the visitor, she had no reason to be concerned. When Amy was given a much-wanted promotion at work, her landlord and his friend were waiting for her with a bottle of champagne and suggested they all went out to celebrate. Whilst out they proceeded to feed Amy drink after drink. Amy lost any memory of the evening very early on and came around in the early hours of the morning with her landlord raping her. He of course said that she had wanted to have sex and she had encouraged him. She had no memory of the event, so felt like she could not disagree with his version of events.
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