Some people seem determined to find evidence of rape by any means necessary.

Greg Piper of the College Fix reports.

Had a drink before sex? You’ve been raped, says latest 1-in-5 campus rape survey

This should be the headline on any media report of this new single-university study of campus sexual assault: “Researchers say you’ve been raped if you’re buzzed during sex.”

Here at The College Fix we’re used to seeing sloppy or nonexistent definitions of “incapacitation” in the context of sexual-violence surveys, education and training materials, legislation and campus conduct codes.

It’s not a light matter: Taking advantage of someone who’s incapacitated is not only grounds for expulsion, but prosecution.

But the definition in the new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, which is not spelled out in the paper’s free abstract (you’d have to pay for the full paper to find it), is so ludicrous that it’s amazing it got past peer review.

Ashe Schow at the Washington Examiner obtained a copy from one of the study authors, who readily admitted it’s not representative beyond the one upstate New York university where it surveyed just under 500 freshmen women.

Schow writes:

Where the study is a little different than others is that it doesn’t include fondling or kissing in its definition of sexual assault. Past studies have included such actions to bolster their findings. The study also separates “forcible rape” from “incapacitated rape.” Naturally, the study found a higher rate of “incapacitated rape.” This is problematic because “incapacitated” is loosely defined early in the paper as “when alcohol or other drugs are used,” which would include an exorbitant number of consensual sexual encounters.

“When alcohol or other drugs are used.” When are alcohol or other drugs not used ahead of time when coeds – especially strangers or friends with relationship-boundary issues – hook up?

There’s a good reason that alleged rape victims often have trouble reconstructing a timeline of the incident in question: They’re frequently drunk and perhaps not using their best judgment. That doesn’t mean you can’t easily divine their will from their actions.