• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Women’s Recollection Of Sexual Assault Not Impaired By Moderate Alcohol Consumption

February 1, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

People who have been sexually assaulted or raped can accurately recall details of the attack after drinking, new research suggests. When alcohol is involved, people are often considered unreliable witnesses of their own assault, but the new study challenges that assumption by demonstrating that women could remember details of a hypothetical assault – including whether or not consent had been given – even after moderate alcohol intoxication.

The results contradict the common courtroom perception that someone’s account is less credible if they have been drinking, which has long been a major roadblock to getting a conviction.

Advertisement

“We know that sexual assault frequently coincides with alcohol intoxication,” Professor Heather Flowe, who led the research, said in a statement. In fact, up to 80 percent of victims are reported to have been under the influence at the time of their assault, the authors write.

“This means that, during trials, victims’ and witnesses accounts will often be contested, which is one of the reasons why so few cases lead to conviction for defendants and this needs to change,” Flowe added.

There has also been very little research on the subject: the authors believe this study to be the first empirical evidence regarding alcohol consumption and accounts of sexual assault. “Therefore, in the current study we explored whether people differentially remember sexual activity, both consensual and non-consensual, if they had consumed alcohol in the lead up to the encounter,” they write.

To investigate, they recruited 90 women aged 18-32, working or studying at the University of Leicester, UK. Around half were given an alcoholic drink and the rest were given tonic water. However, as a control, some who were told they were drinking alcohol were actually given tonic and vice versa.

Advertisement

Each was then presented with hypothetical written and audio accounts of an encounter with a man, which they were asked to imagine was happening to them. At certain intervals, the women were given the choice to continue or terminate the encounter, which represented their giving or refusing consent.

A week later, their recollections of the events were tested in a questionnaire, revealing that alcohol didn’t negatively impact their ability to recall consensual and non-consensual activities. The memories of those who had drunk alcohol, up to the UK legal limit for driving, were just as accurate as the memories of those who had not. The researchers found no evidence to suggest that consensual sex might be misremembered as non-consensual when someone had been drinking.

Interestingly, they also found that the individuals who thought they were consuming alcohol – including those who were actually just on tonic water – were generally more accurate in their rememberings. This, the researchers suggest, may be because they are aware of their heightened vulnerability and so become “hypervigilant”.

“This research challenges a key myth about victim’s memories regarding rape and sexual assault, which is often used to dismiss the victim’s account,” co-author Laura Stevens said. 

Advertisement

“We hope this work will lead to changes in the way courts and expert witnesses manage testimony from alleged victims of rape and sexual assault.”

The research is published in Frontiers in Psychology – Forensic and Legal Psychology.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Social network Peanut expands to include more women with launch of Peanut Menopause
  2. Marketmind: Watch those spiralling gas prices
  3. Thai central bank chief warns economy remains fragile, exposed to shocks
  4. Be On The Cutting-Edge Of Tech With This Top-Rated Learning Bundle

Source Link: Women's Recollection Of Sexual Assault Not Impaired By Moderate Alcohol Consumption

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Project Hail Mary Trailer First Look: What Would Happen If The Sun Got Darker?
  • Newly Discovered Cell Structure Might Hold Key To Understanding Devastating Genetic Disorders
  • What Is Kakeya’s Needle Problem, And Why Do We Want To Solve It?
  • “I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
  • Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
  • What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
  • Ancient DNA Confirms Women’s Unexpected Status In One Of The Oldest Known Neolithic Settlements
  • Earth’s Weather Satellites Catch Cloud Changes… On Venus
  • Scientists Find Common Factors In People Who Have “Out-Of-Body” Experiences
  • Shocking Photos Reveal Extent Of Overfishing’s Impact On “Shrinking” Cod
  • Direct Fusion Drive Could Take Us To Sedna During Its Closest Approach In 11,000 Years
  • Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is More Than Double What It Should Be – And We Don’t Know Why
  • We May Have Misjudged A Fundamental Fact About The Cambrian Explosion
  • The Shoebill Is A Bird So Bizarre That Some People Don’t Even Believe It’s Real
  • Colossal’s “Dire Wolves” Are Now 6 Months Old – And They’ve Doubled In Size
  • How To Fake A Fossil: Find Out More In Issue 36 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • Is It True Earth Used To Take 420 Days To Orbit The Sun?
  • One Of The Ocean’s “Most Valuable Habitats” Grows The Only Flowers Known To Bloom In Seawater
  • World’s Largest Digital Camera Snaps 2,104 New Asteroids In 10 Hours, Mice With 2 Dads Father Their Own Offspring, And Much More This Week
  • Simplest Explanation For “Anomalous” Signals Coming From Underneath Antarctica Ruled Out
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version