I think we all know that drinking makes sexual assault more likely.

Meanwhile, the message has gotten out, and male sexual aggressors appear to be deliberately targeting drunk women. (I used these genders because the sample sizes of m-m, f-m, and f-f sexual aggression were all too small to measure in the study.)

The message has gotten out to women too, and moderately drunk women, whilst they do have diminished capacity, are just as likely as sober women to be able to detect bad intentions on another person's part due to hypervigilance (women who believe they're drunk but are actually not are best at it though.)

So in the end, we may have situation that's actually close to the clothing situation. If you go to the middle east as a woman and are not wearing a burqa/hijab (depending where you are) you are much more likely to get sexually assaulted. But it's not because men are animals that can't control themselves when exposed to sexy hair; we know that isn't true. It's because there's a cultural belief that exposing your hair means you're easier or more receptive to sexual advances, and also maybe that it's your fault because you aren't following the "rules".

And in the U.S., we also have the cultural belief that drinking leads to sexual assault, which it does. But, it's partially because we have a cultural belief that drunk women are more receptive to sexual advances (and also that drunk women are easier to sexually assault). Of course part of that is true, but I really don't think that as a culture it helps to hammer that home.

To give a personal example, I personally become less sexually receptive when drunk. If I am drunk, I do not want to have sex (because, like many men, when drunk I have trouble "getting it up" i.e. becoming aroused.) If any men have ever given me alcohol to try to get me to have sex with them, they were barking up the wrong try, as whilst drunk I have occasionally successfully fought off unwanted advances (whereas when I was sober I probably would have been up for it.) I also see various advice in redpill areas and the like advocating getting women at least slightly drunk to improve your chances of sexual congress.

If the message was something positive like, "sex is better when you're sober" or something like that, I could really get behind that. I have personally never had good sex when me or the other person was drunk.

So in the end I'm not sure that we should have a public health message that drinking leads to sexual assault, when there are so many other good reasons to avoid getting passed out drunk like, I don't know, dying of alcohol poisoning and having a really bad hangover. It's possible it might make women hypervigilent in avoiding being drunk in the presence of men. It also might just paint a target on drunk women's backs like "hey! I am more receptive to sexual advances and/or easier to assault". Without data it's hard to know either way.