Monday, November 21, 2005

Blame women?

This BBC survey shows that A third of people believe a woman is partially or completely responsible for being raped.

It is so much annoying. I mean, you do a crime and blame a victim of asking for it. I don't understand how one decides on how much flirtatious is enough-to-be-raped. I think those one third entities would rather prefer all women to be mummies - tied in a cloth, deaf and dumb.

Next thing they will say that "talking" is like an invitation to rape.

I so much agree to this. There is no hope really!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It doesn't seem like the black and white issue that it's being presented as.

I'm sure that if I wore expensive jewellery and walked through a dark alley late in the night and was mugged, I'd atleast be partly responsible for being a robbery victim. In short, I "asked for it".

In this case, to put the whole blame on the woman is definitely wrong and the criminal is definitely the rapist. He's the one who has to be punished.

However, there is an element of truth in the question. If a woman is attractive, dresses to be a head turner of sorts and behaves in a sexually provocative way, she /is/ drawing the attention of a lot of socially miscreants who might attack her. Why do hookers dress in skimpy outfits? To titillate potential clients. Why do they not dress that way and walk down dark alleys they're unfamiliar with? To keep themselves safe.

The accusation against the woman is that she didn't do what she could to protect herself. I'm sure I'd blame her if she was a regular commuter at night and didn't even carry a can of pepper spray or something. In the same way, I'd blame her if she lived in a society where not everyone is a gentleman (read : almost all places) and did something that drew unnecessary attention to her which is what the article seems to be talking about (to me). Moya (like most freedom touting intellectuals) seems to have misunderstood. But then, that's just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

anon - this is a really sad discussion.. why the heck should a person attract any treatment by the way he/she chooses to live is beyond me. A person who violates another persons freedom in any way is the one to be blamed and not the other way around becos the person created an 'oppurtunity'.

Anonymous said...

NY:
That's what I said too. If you read my comment once again,


In this case, to put the whole blame on the woman is definitely wrong and the criminal is definitely the rapist. He's the one who has to be punished.



All I'm saying that you can't expect every person on the planet to behave in a socially acceptable fashion. Punishing them is one measure to take but taking some trouble to stay out of their ways is an equally smart and necessary thing.

Maybe it's beyond you why dressing in a provocative way attracts social miscreants. I'll reiterate my point of view. The rapist is the guilty party and is the one who should be punished and blamed. However, the woman in question might have done something stupid that gave the rapist his chance. This possibility cannot be discounted.

The world is an ugly place. Unless you choose to take care of yourself a little, you can expect bad things to happen. That's my opinion.