Victim advocates for the Charleston Police Department say date rapes and sexual assaults involving alcohol have become more commonplace among college-age women in this port city where bars are plentiful and binge drinking can be a popular pastime.
Some 33 women reported being raped in Charleston in the first eight months of the year, compared to 24 incidents in the same period in 2007. As many as half of the current cases involved alcohol or drugs in some way, authorities said.
The local People Against Rape organization has received reports of even more incidents from victims who don’t end up calling law enforcement, Melonea Locklair, the nonprofit’s executive director said. “And I would say between 75 and 80 percent of the acquaintance assaults we deal with have alcohol involved with them,” she said.
This potential threat does not appear to have dampened the party spirit among the city’s younger crowd. Several young women interviewed last week said they and their friends won’t shy away from a night of cocktails on the town, but they do take more precautions, such as traveling in groups. Most had reservations about going home with people they don’t know and they avoid party-hopping by themselves. Naked women, Richard ric ric henyard
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