Letters to the Editor
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@AKA Smith
"Blunderdog, in your scenario I think both parties should receive some mandated counseling about their drinking, how they handle issues of consent, and education about how being drunk muddies the waters. Such counseling might also provide a way for them both to talk through the situation and express their feelings." --AKA Smith
That sounds like a pretty good call to me, too.
What I'm apt to rail against with regards to these issues is the notion that there could be some monosyllabic catchphrase that "answers all the questions." Might be nice if there could be such a thing, but I believe there simply can't.
Not that you've done so, but I would urge caution about blurring the line between "aggression" and "violence." I'm sure you're right that there's much more man vs. woman domestic violence and rape than vice versa, but the link between aggression and violence isn't direct, and aggression itself is more often a morally neutral occurrence.
As a society, I think most of us would agree that we'd like to discourage/minimize violence, but I think it would be a grave mistake to take the same view of discouraging/minimizing aggression.
A final comment re: "But what kind of world is it that we are also not safe to walk during the day? Early this summer there was a woman raped on a trail in the daytime."
I don't see any reason to think that the legal system can *prevent* crime. The only way to prevent crime is to have direct control over everyone's behavior, so that you can actually stop them when/before they begin a criminal act. A more realistic goal of the legal system is to capture and punish the folks who commit crimes so that they can't continue to commit them. We'd all like to live in a world where you are guaranteed not to be a victim of a crime, but we don't, so you have to do your part to prevent your own victimization.
That's a bit of a lesson that touches on the original topic, too.