Why does Kamala Harris oppose helping women protect themselves from rape?

“What steps do you have in mind that women should take to avoid becoming a victim of sexual assault?” asked Harris.

Rao said it was “common sense” that a woman might avoid excessive drinking in potentially hazardous settings, like, say, a booze-soaked frat house. “It is a way to make it less likely,” Rao said. “It is not to blame the victim.”

Harris then asked if Rao believed that a woman is “at fault or partially at fault” if she were to drink to excess and then become a victim of a sex crime.

No, Rao said.

“So what is the significance to taking those steps?” Harris asked with skepticism, as though she were hearing for the first time that uncomfortable things have happened when alcohol was present.

After the hearing, Kamala wrote on Twitter that Rao’s “prior writings about sexual assault are completely unacceptable and her responses to my questions today were deeply troubling.”

It was in 1994 that Rao wrote in the Yale Herald that “date rape” is an endlessly complicated idea, particularly when alcohol is involved and when the sole evidence of misconduct is a woman’s accusation.

“Clearly, if the male student forced the woman to have sex against her will, then he should be held responsible,” wrote Rao. “Yet the role of alcohol severely complicates the scenario. People often drink precisely so that they may limit their responsibility. They want to forget about their papers and their problems. They want to have fun, and not think so hard. So when two drunken students return to a room and have sex, did the man force the woman against her will? Did the woman have regrets the morning after and deny giving consent?”

At another part in the column, she said, “It has always seemed self-evident to me that even if I drank a lot, I would still be responsible for my actions. A man who rapes a drunk girl should be prosecuted. At the same time, a good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober.”

This is perfectly analogous to recommending you walk home from work at night without your headphones in. Yes, anyone who violently robs you should be charged with a crime, but a friend would give you advice to make yourself a less easy target.

Rao recommends women protect themselves as best as possible so that a rape, or anything like it, never occurs.

Harris find that advice unconscionable, an odd stance for a woman who presumably wants to protect other women from harm.