Alcohol doesn’t alter women’s recollections of sexual assault

WOMEN are still able to accurately recall the details of sexual assault and rape even if they have drunk alcohol, according to a new study.

The findings are an important step in challenging courtroom perceptions of women being unreliable as witnesses in cases where they were intoxicated at the time of assault, researchers say.

The team discovered that women who had drunk alcohol up to the legal limit for driving were able to accurately recall details of an assault in a hypothetical scenario.

These included details of activities to which they had and had not consented.

Prof Heather Flowe, of the University of Birmingham’s school of psychology, and lead researcher said: “We know that sexual assault frequently coincides with alcohol intoxication.

“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.”

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, found no evidence to support the idea that if a woman participated in consensual sex while intoxicated, she might later remember it as non-consensual.

Researchers worked with 90 women, who took part in one of four hypothetical rape scenarios. Half were given alcohol, while the others had tonic water, though some were misinformed as to which drink they’d been given

Seven days after the experiment, the women completed a questionnaire.

The results revealed that women who drank alcohol were just as accurate in remembering consensual and nonconsensual sexual activities.

The study also showed that the participants who expected to drink alcohol – whether they did so or not – were more accurate, overall, in remembering specific details about the rape.

Laura Stevens, a PHD student and coauthor of the paper, said: “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.”