With office Christmas party season in full swing a new Deakin University study provides a timely reminder of the role alcohol plays in unwanted sexual advances.
According to the research simply sitting next to a beer is enough for a woman to be considered sexually available. The results have implications for understanding how alcohol might contribute to sexual assault.
Deakin School of Psychology researchers examined whether the mere presence of alcohol could be used as a sexual cue. They found that men were more likely to perceive a woman sitting alongside a bottle of alcohol, not even actually drinking it, as being seductive, promiscuous or flirtatious.
"The role alcohol plays in the processing of sexual information, and sexual harm, is complex," said Dr Eric Koukounas, the lead researcher on the study.
"We know from previous studies that people who drink alcohol are perceived to be more sexually available than those who abstain, and that men see women who are drinking as more likely to consent to sex. Approximately half of all sexual assaults are also associated with either the perpetrator and/or the victim having consumed alcohol.
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