2012-22: Rape
Dear all,
The last few blog posts have been a little light in tone, so I decided to take on something a little more – weighty.
Rape is (as I understand it) the forced involvement in a sexual act against one’s will.
Why I bring this up is largely as a result of this event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk and my resultant feelings on the matter having seen the delightful behaviour of bevvied up, barely dressed, twenty-somethings on the nations streets on the weekends, or at the end of a month.
Now the Slut Walk movement started in Toronto due a police officer stating that to avoid being victimised that women should avoid dressing like sluts. The poor choice of words aside, the issue is largely does he have a point. The Slut Walk movement would argue that women should be able to dress as they wish without having to worry about victimisation – in point of fact we should be spreading the message to men not to rape, rather than the women to avoid being raped.
So who has the most valid point?
Having not ever studied criminal psychology, sociology, or anything as helpful to the discussion as that – all I can offer is a considered opinion. Rapists, to my mind, are either meticulous planners (those who rape out of compulsion) or opportunists. The meticulous serial rapists will have a particular modus operandi, a given ‘type’ of victim, a particular hunting ground, etc. – almost creatures of habit. Allow me instead to deal with the opportunists.
Opportunists will look for a given series of circumstances to come about – perhaps the intoxicating effects of alcohol, a particularly dry spell of sexual encounters, a fixation on a particular person of attraction to them to the point of obsession. In this respect, the manner of dress could indeed be a factor.
Journalist Rod Liddle suggests that: “…I have a perfect right to leave my windows open when I nip to the shops for some fags, without being burgled. It doesn’t lessen the guilt of the burglar that I’ve left my window open, or even remotely suggest that I was deserving of being burgled. Just that it was more likely to happen.” Feminist writer Jessica Valenti argues: ”The idea that women’s clothing has some bearing on whether they will be raped is a dangerous myth feminists have tried to debunk for decades.”
From a simple risk management strategy dressing in a way that is sexually provocative is more likely not only to attract the attentions of the opposite sex, but is also more likely to attract the attention of a sexual predator; in the same way that smoking does not lead to lung cancer – only increases the likelihood of it occurring. Taking the responsibility for one’s own safety should be the priority. Similarly, drinking to excess to such a state so that one can even fail to stand up presents a sexual predator with a much more available and easy target – it does not guarantee that one will fall foul of the predator, just makes it more likely.
How would you like to end the night? As the potential prey of a sexual predator? Or with an attractive young member of the opposite sex you met while out on a night out drinking with your friends? To limit the attentions of dangerous people we can simply modify behaviour and dress.
In essesnce, I’m not preaching an ‘avoid being raped’ message – rape is a tragic and horrific act that shouldn’t, but does, exist. Our children should be being taught that to take a partner by force is wrong. But until that message permeates our society, we can take the responsibility on ourselves to avoid such attentions.
