• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

More Thoughts on Informed Consent and Alcohol

exchemist

Veteran Member
But, then, by these "ethics", a person driving drunk should not be punished, as their decision making and judgment was impaired at the time of the decision to drive drunk. Seems to me that your "ethics" are based on arbitrary personal preference. A drunk person need not be responsible for their sexual decisions (at least, if they're a female), but should always be held responsible for their driving decisions. Why?
The point surely is that a person having sex with someone drunk may be exploiting their lack of mental capacity. It is like having sex with someone mentally retarded, or with a child, even. The crime is not committed by the drunk person, but by the person doing the exploiting, who is deemed to be doing so with full mental capacity. (Though it might be an interesting defence to claim to be drunk, too, I suppose.)

There is no parallel with drunk driving. In drunk driving a person is not generally being invited or pressured to get a car and drive when everyone can see they are sloshed. Generally they have put themselves in a situation in which they know, when sober, that they will need to drive later (say at the end of the evening out) and then they recklessly drink too much.
 

Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
It is a false analogy.
  • Let's say that I'm sober and I have an opportunity to have a drink. So I drink my booze and decide it's time to go home, so I incorrectly assess my Blood Alcohol Content Level, get behind the wheel of my car (hopefully it's my car), drive off, get stopped by a cop--before or after I have an accident--and the cop gives me a reality check, which I fail. And I plead innocent because the car didn't stop me from driving off while I was intoxicated. Is the cop going to tell me, "Sorry, I have to take you in. Now, if you had been driving a different car, I might have been able to let you off with a warning."??? Not likely, I think.
  • What about engaging in sex with another person who is drunk?
  • In what way is a drunk sexual partner like a car?
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
But, by the same logic:

Decision making requires clear judgment. Driving drunk is a decision. Therefore, alcohol impairs the ability to make a decision as to whether one is capable of driving safely. Thus, a drunk driver should not be held responsible for his/her actions, as his/her decision making was impaired at the time of making the decision to drive.

See the problem?

You drove the car, the car didn't convince you drive it.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
An interesting argument, but really, I'd prefer to have sex with somebody that I was quite sure wanted to have it with me. I find myself quite uninterested in fiddling with somebody who's out of it.
 

Rational Agnostic

Well-Known Member
It is a false analogy.
  • Let's say that I'm sober and I have an opportunity to have a drink. So I drink my booze and decide it's time to go home, so I incorrectly assess my Blood Alcohol Content Level, get behind the wheel of my car (hopefully it's my car), drive off, get stopped by a cop--before or after I have an accident--and the cop gives me a reality check, which I fail. And I plead innocent because the car didn't stop me from driving off while I was intoxicated. Is the cop going to tell me, "Sorry, I have to take you in. Now, if you had been driving a different car, I might have been able to let you off with a warning."??? Not likely, I think.
  • What about engaging in sex with another person who is drunk?
  • In what way is a drunk sexual partner like a car?

I don't even understand how your analogy relates. My OP was essentially about whether being drunk absolves a person from being responsible for decisions. If yes, then consent while drunk is not informed consent, and driving drunk should not be a crime because the decision to do so was made while drunk. If no, then consent while drunk is informed consent, and driving drunk should still be a crime.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't even understand how your analogy relates. My OP was essentially about whether being drunk absolves a person from being responsible for decisions. If yes, then consent while drunk is not informed consent, and driving drunk should not be a crime because the decision to do so was made while drunk. If no, then consent while drunk is informed consent, and driving drunk should still be a crime.
Drunk driving tends to kill people. That’s at least involantary man slaughter in most places. Two drunk people having sex at worse may spread an STD. Granted STDs can kill you if you’re not careful. But killing someone however unintentional is not something society tends to take lightly. You could make an issue with the gradients the laws may treat criminal capacity, depending on the circumstance. But don’t compare it to a drunken one night stand, geez
 

Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
  1. I don't even understand how your analogy relates.
  2. My OP was essentially about whether being drunk absolves a person from being responsible for decisions.
    • If yes, then consent while drunk is not informed consent, and driving drunk should not be a crime because the decision to do so was made while drunk.
    • If no, then consent while drunk is informed consent, and driving drunk should still be a crime.
re: #1. Okay, let's see if I can confuse us both some more.
re: #2. You ask: Does being drunk absolve a person from being responsible for decisions?

I say: "No, being drunk does not absolve a person from being responsible for decisions."
Reason for my change in position: "Drunken consent is still consent."

Or is it? Why Drunk Consent Is NOT Always Consent
 
Top