Alcohol, Men, and "Oh, I didn't Know...."

Here's an excerpt from an really interesting article on unlawful sex with a minor. Thought, comments, reactions. Welcome.

An article from Egan and Cordan (2009) reads:


"One 'reasonable ground' for unlawful sex with a minor is mistaken age. Alcohol consumption and make-up afe often deemed further influences in impaired perception. Two hundred and fourty persons in bars and cafes rated the attractiveness of composite faces of immature and mature females with and without additional make-up, alcohol users having their concurrent blood-alcohol level measured using a breathalyser. A non-sex preference for immature faces over sexually mature faces were found. Alcohol and make-up did not inflate attractiveness ratings in immature faces. While alcohol consumption significantly inflated attractiveness ratings for for participants viewing made-up faces, greater alcohol consumption itself did not lead to overestimation of age. Although alcohol limited the processing of maturity cues in female observers, it had no effect on the age perception of males viewing female faces, suggesting male mate preference are not easily disrupted. Participants consistently overestimated the age of sexually immature- and sexually immature-faces by an average of 3.5 years. Our study suggests that even heavy alcohol consumption does not interfere with age-perception tasks in men, so it is not of itself an excuse for apparent mistaken age in cases of unlawful sex with a minor. "

Hmmmm.......


Reference

Egan, V. & Cordan, G. (2009) Barely legal: Is attraction and estimated age of young female faces disrupted by alcohol use, make-up, and the sex of the observer? British Journal of Psychology, 100(2), 415.. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from Research Library ( Document ID: 1673439601).