FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jason Landau Goodman
jgoodman@payouthcongress.org
The PA Liquor Control Board pulls
rape insensitive advertisement geared toward youth
HARRISBURG, PA- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board launched an educational campaign this week targeting young Pennsylvanians about alcohol abuse. The photo campaign “Control Tonight” features young people in various compromised stages of intoxication by alcohol. In one of the posters, a young partially naked female is sprawled on a bathroom floor with the caption: “She didn’t want to do it, but she couldn’t say no.”
The Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition (PSEC), the Keystone state’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) youth organization joined with other Pennsylvanian students and feminists to advocate against this poster. Feeling that sexual assault is not a personal choice resulting from excessive drinking and is strongly different from, alcohol poisoning, vomiting, and driving under the influence. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board pulled the advertisement yesterday afternoon and clarified their position on their Facebook Page:
“Our intent was certainly not to ‘blame the victim’ or ‘let the perpetrator off the hook’. Only a rapist is to blame for rape. This poster was never intended to suggest otherwise. We are grateful for all the victim’s advocates who said that hard-edged conversations such as this are exactly what we need but if the messaging is causing any pain for victims of sexual assault – than that is a bottom-line point for us.”
The PSEC commends the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board for their rapid response to such criticism and important work on alcohol education. However, insensitive messages can fuel conceptions about what constitutes proper behavior for women that are damaging to the LGBT community. PSEC sees this time as to consider the importance of inclusion and sensitivity in Commonwealth-run alcohol education programs and campaigns.
In a letter sent today to the PA Liquor Control Board, PSEC Executive Director Jason Landau Goodman wrote, “outreach and inclusion of LGBT youth from the Commonwealth on comprehensive alcohol education would be a welcomed approach with Pennsylvania youth and address some of the most impacted populations of young people.”
A 2007 study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that LGB youth alcohol use was 190% higher than for heterosexual youth and substantially higher for some subpopulations: bisexual youth (340%) and lesbian youth (400%). The lack of a large enough sample size made it impossible for researchers to determine alcohol use of transgender teens. However it is logical to assume that the greater social stigma against transgender teens influences alcohol use to be even higher.
PSEC is a student-run coalition representing thousands of youth throughout Pennsylvania working to improve the lives of LGBT people in their communities and support safe schools.
###