Wrong call? Opposition to anti-drink advert

IS it possible that the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland got the wrong end of the stick by calling for the immediate withdrawal of an advertisement aimed at raising awareness of alcohol abuse? 

The ad, shows a young woman sitting on a bed dishevelled after a night out and carries the tagline: “Out-of-control drinking has consequences.”

RCNI has described the ad as “misogynistic” because “it promotes the idea that women who drink are asking to be physically and sexually assaulted”.

Nobody — outside of Isis — would accept that a women who drinks in public can’t complain if she is the victim of a sexual or physical assault. That attitude comes from a different, long-ago time when sexual politics had far more to do with exploitation and repression rather than mutual esteem.

RCNI is not entirely off the mark though. Women who drink far too much in public, especially if they have to travel home alone, leave themselves more vulnerable than is prudent. This is not as it should be but to pretend that it is not the case would be foolish and dangerous in the extreme.