in brief: men’s aggression isn’t influenced by their own intoxication

A recent study has shown men’s aggressive behaviour is not influenced by their own drunkenness.

The joint research by University of Toronto and University of Washington trained and hired 140 young people to document incidents of aggression in Toronto bars.

The study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that while alcohol was no causation or correlation for male aggression, aggressive behaviour was instead targeted at intoxicated women.

One in four incidents featured sexually aggression and 90 per cent of all incidents saw men harassing women.

Women’s consent was breached with two thirds of all incidents featuring unwanted touching, with almost all aggression being physical in nature.

Lead researcher, Kate Graham told Shots that women normally wouldn’t stand for such harassment in other public places such as the street, but seemed more lenient on perpetrators in a bar setting.

‘There’s no reason that women should be touched against their will,’ she said.

The teams in bars also found bar staff were unlikely to intervene during incidents.

‘There should be training for staff on how to intervene,’ Graham said.

‘If [a bar] wants to have female patrons, they ought to make it more female friendly.’