Officer: women can avoid being a victim of sexual assault by not dressing slutty

[NoIDidn't]

If someone had shown up at one of my sexual assault survivors meetings saying "dress less slutty", they'd be lucky if only shown the door immediately.

 

It was insensitive and ignorant of the officer to say. Most of those ladies were victims of childhood molestation where slutty dress was extremely unlikely.

 

There is certainly a time to suggest to women when not to dress "slutty", but its not simply to avoid sexual assault. This officer was rightly canned for not knowing the difference and not being able to communicate it in a way that wasn't so offensive.

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

I admit that it bothers me when I see teenage girls dressed up like 20 year old's at a bar. Or even younger than that.

 

But I don't believe that clothes, or makeup, or anything really, makes you more prone to be raped. It's really about the mentality of the rapist rather than the act of the rape. Someone who views women as sub-human are more likely to act accordingly. And men who view women as, well, human, are less likely, or not likely at all, to carry out an act of rape.

 

I'd be more worried about the state of mind of the police officer that said that, rather than the general populous. If he believes that, either he's been watching too many porn flicks, or else he has the mentality of a rapist.

[Crusoe]

I'd be more worried about the state of mind of the police officer that said that, rather than the general populous. If he believes that, either he's been watching too many porn flicks, or else he has the mentality of a rapist.

 

I'm not going to get invloved in an argument about whether it was right or wrong for this man to say what he did. What I would like to point out is that this man spends his working life up to his neck in human filth. He does a job most people don't have the guts to do. He steps into situations most people would run away from. He is going to understand the criminal mind a lot better than most people. He is going to understand the mind of a predator far better than most people. He is going to understand what that predator is looking for as a target better than most people.

 

People might not like what he has to say, and they don't have to agree with what he says, but maybe they should spend a little time in his shoes before they throw their stones.

Edited February 21, 2011 by Crusoe

[Scottdmw]

It definitely increases the risk, yes. I agree with your analogy. However, my issue is with the title, 'Women can AVOID being a victim of rape by not dressing slutty', etc. Would you say that it is appropriate to say that we can all AVOID being victims of robberies by not showing our wealth in any way?

 

 

Perhaps the title is less than perfect, and perhaps further the cop who originated the comment made it in a non-diplomatic way. I agree with you that no matter what anyone does they can never be sure of being safe from robbery, rape, or anything else. The idea is to avoid making yourself a target. The suggestion is to not dress in a way that is outrageously or extremely provocative. To clarify my position, I don't think that it is possible to completely remove risk. It may not be possible to massively reduce risk either--quite possibly many/most rapes are about power and have absolutely nothing to do with dress. I do think though that it is possible to somewhat reduce risk of rape, robbery, and other crimes by taking reasonable care.

 

The problem with much of this thread is that people have a tendency to exaggerate the claims others are making. Things are often turned into all-or-nothing with no nuance in between. Here's an example. Some posters on this thread hear someone say that a woman should not dress slutty, and believe that that poster means a woman has to dress in a burqua, baggy sweats, or something like that, or that the poster is saying women cannot dress sexy. That is certainly not what I mean, and I don't think it's what most people mean when they talk about this. Others hear a person talk about increased risk of rape, and they take that to mean that the poster holds the victim responsible and not the rapist, when that is not the intention at all.

 

I can understand the worry some women have with this. They might feel like “what if I think I'm not addressing slutty, but the rapist does?” They might feel like if they agree that the way they dress might have impact on their safety, it could be a slippery slope to being forced to dress very conservatively.

 

All that said, I still think it is unreasonable to claim that rape is never influenced by dress. Trying to say that rape is never influenced by dress is basically taking an academic theory of human behavior and trying to force it over the behavior of all humankind. How often is it true that people _never_ do anything for a particular reason? The word never is generally an indication that the claim being made is false.

 

I appreciate people's concerns with avoiding blaming the victim, and holding rapists properly responsible. All that is definitely well and good and true. I do think though that we have to recognize that in the real world a woman's actions can influence her risk of being raped. That is a fact. It is no good denying it and talking about theories about rapist motivation that may or may not hold in all cases. Denying this fact does nothing to help women. I actually agree with the previous post by Denise that things like alcohol consumption are more significant than dress as far as a woman taking risks. I think we should be able to talk about things like this as increasing risk without that being taken to mean that we are blaming the victim or letting the rapist off the hook.

 

Scott

[Scottdmw]

The officer was notifying women that not dressing 'slutty' would help lower their chances of being raped; repeated studies have disproven this rape myth.

 

 

Anyways, secondly, rape is indeed about power. Always, every time. Please read the literature if you are not informed about this reality.

 

There have been a number of claims along these lines on this thread, referencing “studies” and “literature”.

 

As I've said before, I think there may be truth to these studies. . . to a point. But, I get very skeptical when people start saying things things like “always” and “never” about human behavior, or when people say that there is _zero_ statistical effect from dress. Both of those claims seem to me like they almost have to be overstated. Maybe the effect is small. I could believe a number like 10%, or even 5%. But, when someone says it's zero it makes me think that person is more interested in proving a political point than in getting at the truth.

 

I would suggest that if people want to make claims like this they definitely need to include the studies they are talking about, so the rest of us can look at them and see if those studies say the things that are being claimed of them and whether we agree that the studies were methodologically sound.

 

Scott