A study reveals that over a quarter of Britons believe that a woman deserves to be raped if she is wearing ‘sexy’ or revealing clothing.
ICM conducted telephone interviews across the country, which involved 1,095 people, aged 18 and above. According to the study, 30% of participants also believed that a woman is responsible for being raped if she is drunk and 22% held similar beliefs if the woman had had many sexual partners.
It is shocking to see that these opinions still exist in modern society; just this year Nick Ross, creator of Crime Watch, found himself in hot water, as he suggested that ‘not all rape is rape’ if the woman is drunk or leads a man on.
There are many issues surrounding this sexist and old-fashioned mind set; not only does it assume that all women are seductresses unless they are sober and dress like librarians, but it also implies that men have no control over their sexual desires.
Am I to assume that all men are sexual predators, and live my life in such a way, so as not to stir these beasts? Is a woman in a bikini, sunbathing on a beach asking to be raped? Can a woman not simply change her mind?
Though, in an ideal world, we would all be safe from sexual or physical attacks, this is not reality. Tragedies happen, but who is ‘deserving’ of sympathy and support should not be based on what someone was wearing, whether they were alone or how many previous partners they have had.
Do you agree? Leave a comment below.
Related articles
- Emily Yoffe: Stop Victim-Blaming. It’s feeding into Rape Culture, and yet you’re still doing it. (cutegirlwithabanjo.wordpress.com)
- The Blurred Lines of Consent: it’s not always that easy to define consent (inkyspider.wordpress.com)
- Study: 1 in 10 men in parts of Asia have raped (bigstory.ap.org)
Thank you for linking to my post on the topic.
I certainly don’t believe that anyone deserves to be raped. Rape is a violation for anyone, male or female, and there is no excuse for raping someone. And everyone deserves to be believed and taken seriously if they were raped whether they were drunk, sober, wearing a bikini or completely covered-up.
My concern with drunkness is that people will do things that wouldn’t normally do sober. A woman may invite a man to her room and have sex with him. The next morning she may think that she’s been raped because she doesn’t really remember the evening and knows that she would never have a one night stand while sober.
Drunk people don’t always act drunk and out of control even if they are verging on black out. I wonder if there are situations where men (and women) may not realize they are “taking advantage” of someone else because consent does occur, it just would not have occurred if the person were sober.
I have heard suggestions that a man should just not have sex with a woman if she has been drinking. I feel like this may be a bit extreme, but I am not sure how else one could make a safe rule to protect both parties.
Hi, thank you very much for your response! I agree that it’s very difficult to establish consent when someone is blind drunk. Though someone is never responsible for rape I suppose you can argue that we have a responsibility to keep ourselves safe. Unfortunately, sometimes we make errors in judgement and things can go very wrong. Needless to say, that still isn’t an ‘invitation’ for rape.