ONE in four people believe women who have been raped are partly to blame for the crime because of how they dressed, their sexual history or how much they had to drink. (link here)I heard this on the radio last night and wondered this morning if my tired brain had made it up. I have very frequent and vivid nightmares; I wondered if the story was a fragment of last night's unpleasantness that had followed me into my Wednesday. My cursory reading of the paper this morning saw no mention of the poll, so I assumed that I'd made it up. Then I read Twenty's post.
The figures:
- 10% of people think the victim is entirely at fault if she has had a number of sexual partners.
- 37% think a woman who flirts extensively is at least complicit, if not completely in the wrong, if she is the victim of a sex crime.
- 33% think a woman is either partly or fully to blame if she wears revealing clothes.
- 38% believe a woman must share some of the blame if she walks through a deserted area.
Sam's comment over at Twenty's was one of the (very*) few considered efforts to respond to his understated post :
It is hard to know where to start with cretins like this. Attitudes like this bear some responsibility for some rape victims never reporting the crime done against them. They also betray a pretty pitiful view of men as lower order creatures who mustn’t be riled or stimulated in case they bite and wouldn’t that be your own fault too.I have not been raped, but like many women I have had cause to be anxious on occasion (remember this bastard?). I didn't report him, I would not have known what to say. I would have been worried that my own actions that night would be called into question and that I would be made to feel worse for having made a fuss. Why didn't I ignore him when he first spoke to me? Why didn't I just get a taxi? What was I thinking going out drinking in the first place? I was wracked with guilt after that night, wondering if there was something about me that encouraged him, something I did, something I am.
I have had my share of lovers. I am an incorrigible flirt, albeit a clumsy one. I wear skirts to show off my legs. I like to walk home.
One in four think I'm asking for it?
I would imagine that some of these people are voicing their opinions on the subject of "date rape"** though I have nothing to say that the questionnaire was phrased in such a way as to imply date rape as opposed to gang rape, marital rape, prison rape, oral rape, anal rape or any other violation. I imagine this to be the case in a vain effort to get my head around the survey's conclusions, because I cannot believe that people can be so sanctimonious, so judgemental, so unforgiving in the face of something so awful. I'm disgusted at myself for wondering this at all, because it means that subconsciously I'm considering date rape as something that could be invited.
*The other cunts would put you off commenting on what is a very readable blog - like a load of smelly and ignorant arseholes would deter you from your favourite pub.
**"Date rape" is a term I very much take issue with. Blakkat has written an articulate piece on the subject, it's a long post but worth a read.
