As the situations Gladwell has explored in previous chapters make abundantly clear, talking to strangers “is not an error-free exercise in the best of times.” When we add alcohol to the equation, we lose sight of long-term consequences and, thus, “cede[] control of the situation.” Gladwell includes Emily Yaffe’s point about needing to stress to young women the importance of avoiding becoming so intoxicated that one “lose[s] the ability to be responsible for [one]self” to strike a balance between assigning due blame for sexual assault to the perpetrator
and warning women of the predictable effects of acute alcohol intoxication. Always, it is the perpetrator and the perpetrator alone who is responsible for committing sexual assault. However, Gladwell also suggests that it’s counterproductive to disregard 1) the element of misunderstanding that can play a role in sexual assault that occurs between strangers, and 2) the degree to which alcohol intoxication increases the chances that we will misunderstand—and be misunderstood by—a stranger.