General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Stop Telling Women How to Not Get Raped [View all]Tansy_Gold
(17,847 posts)I asked.
Going into the toughest part of town at two a.m. with a couple of fifties sticking out of your pockets is probably not a sensible thing to do. Drinking to excess under any circumstances is probably not a sensible thing to do.
What makes the two scenarios different is that even though the person walking through the bad neighborhood at 2 a.m. may get mugged, the mugger will not be exonerated by the victim's foolishness.
In the case of rape, however, the blame that is heaped on the victim often DOES exonerate the perpetrator, if not directly then indirectly because either she is made to feel sufficiently responsible for what happened to her that she does not report it or press charges or because she is shown in court -- or in the court of public opinion, if it reaches that far -- to have contributed to her own assault. The more often victims are portrayed as contributing to their assaults, even when they did nothing more heinous than exercise poor judgment (which is NOT a crime, by the way), the more often other victims are reluctant to speak up for fear of the same treatment. This then becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy -- as one guy gets away with it, more and more guys figure they can get away with it, too.
And remember, I'm not talking about "deviants," but about the very ordinary guy who just thinks he's entitled.