Page 89 - Malcolm Gladwell - Talking to Strangers

NOT sexual assault, or is unclear.

Sexual activity when both people have not given clear agreement

Is Is not Unclear No opinion

All 47 6 46 *

Men 42 7 50 1

Women 52 6 42 –

What does it mean that half of all young men and women are “unclear” on whether clear agreement
is necessary for sexual activity? Does it mean that they haven’t thought about it before? Does it
mean that they would rather proceed on a case-by-case basis? Does it mean they reserve the right to
sometimes proceed without explicit consent, and at other times to insist on it? Amanda Knox
confounded the legal system because there was a disconnect between the way she acted and the way
she felt. But this is transparency failure on steroids. When one college student meets another—even
in cases where both have the best of intentions—the task of inferring sexual intent from behavior is
essentially a coin flip. As legal scholar Lori Shaw asks, “How can we expect students to respect
boundaries when no consensus exists as to what they are?”
There is a second, complicating element in many of these encounters, however. When you read
through the details of the campus sexual-assault cases that have become so depressingly common,
the remarkable fact is how many involve an almost identical scenario. A young woman and a young
man meet at a party, then proceed to tragically misunderstand each other’s intentions—and they’re
drunk.

3.

D: What did you drink?
Turner: I had approximately five Rolling Rock beers.

Brock Turner began drinking well before he went to the Kappa Alpha party. He had been at his
friend Peter’s apartment earlier in the evening.
D: Other than the five Rolling Rock beers that you’ve mentioned, did you drink any other
alcohol in Peter’s room?
Turner: Yes. I had some Fireball Whiskey.
D: And how was that consumed?…
Turner: It was just out of the bottle.
When Turner got to the party, he kept drinking. In California the legal intoxication limit for
drivers is a blood-alcohol concentration of .08; anything above that and you’re considered drunk.
By the end of the night Turner’s blood-alcohol level was twice that.
Emily Doe arrived at the party in a group—with her sister and her friends Colleen and Trea.
Earlier that evening, Trea had consumed an entire bottle of champagne, among other things. There
they were joined by their friend Julia, who had also been drinking.
P: Did you have anything to drink at dinner?

Julia: Yes.
P: What did you drink?
Julia: A full bottle of wine.