One might recall the initial uproar surrounding so-called "state-funded abortion" when debates about universal health care began back in the early days of the Obama presidency. Recently, the issue arose with fervor once again due to the creation of the "Smith bill," authored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and sponsored by intellectual luminaries such as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Congressman John Kline (R-Minn.). The intention of the bill was to prevent any taxpayer money from funding clinics that perform abortions, either domestically or overseas. Exceptions were made for cases of incest and "forcible rape." The bill was later quietly changed to remove the "forcible" qualifier, though only after much ado.The brouhaha that resulted from the original wording was due to the inclusion of the notion of "forcible rape" as opposed to acts of sexual violation that are presently considered rape under the law. In short, the supporters of the bill would have it that the only rapes considered serious enough to warrant treatment are those which occur at gun or knifepoint in back alleys to nice girls who happen to be walking home late.

Yet that image doesn't resonate with the instances of sexual assault and rape that college students are frequently exposed to. Campuses with strong athletic cultures and the presence of Greek life are especially vulnerable to high numbers of rapes and sexual assaults, presumably due to alcohol abuse by the victim. Sociologist Peggy Sanday made this very point in her book "Fraternity Gang Rape," and more recent statistics, such as those brought forth by University of Northern Colorado Professor Nicholas Syrett in his June 2009 article "Bros Before Hos: College Fraternities and Sexual Exploitation," suggest that 70 to 90 percent of all campus rapes are committed by fraternity brothers.

The conservative position seems to be either that states of intoxication simply do not exist, or that people who become intoxicated automatically become interested in any and all sexual activity that they may be coaxed into participating in. My assumption is that people who hold these views simply have never met a person who is severely intoxicated, as one of the first things that becomes apparent in those encounters is that the intoxicated individual in question is not thinking clearly.

What is required for the idea of sex with a person who cannot give consent to become socially conceptualized as rape in every circumstance is a mass shift in attitudes. This shift is not going to start at the top, within institutions or in the minds of conservatives or others who aren't frequently exposed to instances of rape via intoxication. This shift has to start with us-the witnesses, victims and culprits.

To make it unthinkable that anyone would coerce, coax or otherwise force an intoxicated person into sexual activity and have it be considered anything other than rape, we have to change our attitudes about engaging in sexual activity with intoxicated individuals. It can no longer be seen as cute, funny, clever or even normal; it must be seen for what it is: predatory, calculated and ultimately dangerous. For the more we, as students, normalize the abuse of people under the influence of alcohol, the more the notion that those actions are common and minimal becomes acceptable to our lawmakers.

This is our responsibility. It's time to do whatever we can to respond harshly to sexual activity with intoxicated people. We have to condemn it, reject it and openly decry it en masse if we are going to rid ourselves of its creeping normalcy and remove it from the domain of acceptability in the minds of lawmakers. If party culture takes a hit, it's a small price to pay for the legal protection of people who have been taken advantage of.

Luckily, in this instance, the outcry generated by that very suggestion has induced the author of the bill to change the wording to reflect the reality of rape, rather than a conservative's fantasy of it. But one capitulation does not signify the overall shift of social attitudes that needs to occur to ensure that "forcible rape" does not become the only rape we recognize as legitimate.