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V_V comments on LW Women Submissions: On Misogyny - Less Wrong
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The ability to consent varies continuously with intoxication level, hence it could be technically argued that a gray area exists. But the effect seems quite non-linear, with a sharp transition. As a rule of thumb I would say that if somebody is able to walk on their own then they can consent, otherwise they can't.
I suppose there are cases when somebody first consents, or reasonably appears to consent, then they fall unconscious during the act, then they wake up and OMG I WAS RAPED!!!11ONE1!!
This type of "accidental rape" is possible, but I doubt it's common: evidence suggests that the majority of rapes, including those enabled by victim intoxication, are committed by a small proportion of men who are serial rapists and often have other patterns of antisocial behaviors. These people typically understand that their behaviors violate laws and social norms, yet they do it anyway because they don't care and believe (often correctly) that they can get away with it.
How do blackouts figure into this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_%28alcohol-related_amnesia%29#Consequences
This implies that the ability to walk doesn't imply a reliably good grade of consent.
As I said, there is some gray area. Some people can do things they later regret during alcoholic blackouts, but it doesn't mean that they are completely incapable to exercise judgement in these circumstances. In fact, in most cases they would be still considered legally responsable for their actions.
Yep. Kill somebody, you're still held wholly responsible. Consent to sex, on the other hand, is far too serious a matter.
My general rule of thumb is thus: If you inebriate yourself, you're responsible for everything you do under the influence of alcohol, including consent. Your responsibility for your actions precludes actions intended to deny your own responsibility.
Which is not to say that sex with an unconscious person isn't rape; I limit myself strictly to those cases where the person does in fact give consent.
Who could ever have doubted that?
V_V says:
Yes, my point was that walking on your own has at least one well-known exception, and so of course no one would say that walking is any more than a fallible piece of evidence, a heuristic, a relatively reliable guide, a rule of thumb. You rephrasing it implied skepticism that it was ever fallible, so I brought up the exception (and particularly appropriate, note the mention of sex in the lede of the link).