General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Stop Telling Women How to Not Get Raped [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)In that it places the responsibility on women to avoid being raped. It creates the assumption that if they are raped, it's not because they were victimized by an abuser and a criminal, but rather because they "failed." I'm sure it's not malicious; I believe these sort of guides really are put out with the best interests of women intended. The problem is, it has unintended effects - woman who gets raped may never report it, under the belief that the authorities will just shake their heads over her not "following the guidelines" for instance. It's the right intent, but a flawed approach.
Further it perpetuates a sort of culture of isolation among women; the idea that a woman must always be "on guard" against rapists does have a psychological effect, and can lead to a sort of siege mentality. After all, it's the woman who is being told to change her habits, wear different clothes, be on the defensive, in order to protect against an assault that the guides often seem to paint as inevitable iff she DOESN'T do so. Many of these guides also seem to make the terribly false assumption that most rapists are people who jump you in empty parking lots.
Comparing it to "how to not get robbed" isn't exactly accurate, either; our culture doesn't have any real history of blaming victims of robbery for the crime perpetuated against them, nor does it ostracize or attack victims of robbery. Robbery victims are generally met with sympathy, while rape victims are distressingly often treated as "sluts" who somehow brought it upon themselves. "well what you you expect, wearing makeup like that?!"