Kasich on sexual assault: Don't go to parties with alcohol

Gov. John Kasich was poised to give a reasoned, responsible answer about sexual violence on campus, and then he let this one slip:

"I'd also give you one bit of advice, don't go to parties where there is a lot of alcohol," Kasich told a female student from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, during a town hall broadcast on his Facebook page. The crowd applauded. This was after she said that she worries about harassment on campus.

"What are you going to do in office as president to help me feel safer and more secure regarding sexual violence, harassment and rape?" she asked at the Watertown, New York, event.

Watch the video here: The question comes at the 1:05:00 mark. 

Sexual assault on university campuses has gained increasing national attention. About one in five women have been the victim of a sexual attack during college, according to Department of Justice data.

So, does alcohol lead to sexual assault? A 2007 study for the National Institute of Justice on drug-facilitated, incapacitated and forcible rape did show that 89 percent reported drinking alcohol and 82 percent reported being drunk before their victimization. But the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism pointed out that one doesn't necessarily cause the other.

"Although alcohol consumption and sexual assault frequently co-occur, this phenomenon does not prove that alcohol use causes sexual assault. Thus, in some cases, the desire to commit a sexual assault may actually cause alcohol consumption," according to a 2001 report.

Victims-rights’ advocates say that predators often use alcohol as a weapon, and that women feel ashamed or at fault if they were raped after they had been drinking.

“If every crime victim had to have perfect judgment, we could empty our prisons. You can be a victim of a crime and not exercise great judgment,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in a December interview with Elle magazine. “And when women have been sexually assaulted, they feel like they have to have been perfect in order to have anybody believe them. They think nobody will believe them unless a stranger jumped out from behind a bush with a knife—not that they got too drunk and that a guy they thought they knew, you know, took advantage of them in a physical, assaultive way.”

Kasich's comment drew ire from the Democratic National Committee and Ohio Democratic Party, whose spokeswoman called Kasich's response "outrageous."

“Let me say this simply, so that the governor can understand -- rape victims are not responsible for rape. It’s on all of us -- men and women -- to address campus sexual assault," state party spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis said.

After the town hall, Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said that only one person is responsible for sexual assault: the assailant.

“That's why John Kasich has worked hard to provide college campuses with the tools they need to make sure victims have the necessary support. Victims needs to know we're doing everything we can to have their backs, and that's happening in Ohio under John Kasich's leadership," Nichols said.

Kasich also explained the steps Ohio is taking to educate all students and staff about options if sexual assaults occur. In October, the Ohio Department of Higher Education launched an initiative to collect more data on sexual assaults and harassment on campus, create protocols for responding to assaults and focus on survivors. Kasich and lawmakers put $2 million toward the effort.

"In our state,we think that when you enroll, you ought to absolutely know that if something happens to you along the lines of sexual harassment or whatever, you have a place to go where there is a confidential reporting, where there is an ability for you to access a rape kit, where that is kept confidential, but where it gives you the opportunity to be able to pursue justice after you've had some time to reflect on it all," Kasich said.

He made the topic personal, talking about his two daughters.

"I have two 16-year-old daughters, and I don't even like to think about it," he said.

Still, it's not the first time Kasich has gotten in trouble for responses to young women. He told a female student at a town hall that he didn't have any Taylor Swift tickets and recently questioned whether a female teenager had come up with a question on social security by herself.

Washington reporter Deirdre Shesgreen contributed to this article.