A Texas Republican legislator took International Women’s Day as a chance to give the world a new entry on the list of awful things Republicans have said about rape:
“I would be curious to see how many times a pure, sober sexual assault happened,” Myra Crownover, R-Denton, said during a House Committee on Higher Education discussion on college sexual assault. “The best chance is being sober.”
How about the best chance is men not raping?
It’s true, of course, that alcohol often is a factor in rape, but the answer is not “women should never drink because then it’s their fault.” The answer is men shouldn’t use alcohol as a weapon to incapacitate women. Men shouldn’t use women’s drinking as an excuse to rape. Men shouldn’t drink themselves if they’re going to get rapey.
It should not be on women to avoid rape. It should be on men not to rape. And we definitely don’t need lawmakers suggesting that criminals are not the ones responsible for crimes.