Why do the police still tell women that they should avoid getting raped?

[niyad]

Why do the police still tell women that they should avoid getting raped?

Nobody is really expecting women in Clapham to venture out only in groups, armed with rape alarms and baseball bats. But advice not to walk alone and to be on guard could be doing more harm than good.


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‘Women urged not to walk alone’ … it is worrying that messages like this come from the institutions that are supposed to be tackling criminals, not victim behaviour. Photograph: Alamy




. . . . .

The way we approach and discuss these topics matters. It has a huge impact. Surveyed in 2014, more than one third of the British public – from whom rape trial juries are drawn – insisted that sexual assault victims bear partial responsibility for their attack if they have been “flirting heavily” beforehand, and more than one quarter believed they are partially responsible if they are drunk. This kind of police advice can only compound such attitudes. The notion of telling women to take responsibility for their own safety from sexual violence is as old as it is ridiculous; from women-only train carriages (which suggest male violence is inevitable and so women’s behaviour and freedom must be altered and constrained to accommodate it), to police campaigns suggesting it is a victim’s job to try to avoid being raped.

It sends an insidious message, reinforcing attitudes that blame victims and allow perpetrators (cast as a blurry, inevitable evil rather than determined, deliberate criminals) off the hook. And, of course, as women’s campaigners shout ourselves hoarse repeating, such advice makes no logical sense. Women of all ages are raped in a huge variety of places wearing all sorts of clothing. We know that around 90% of rapes are perpetrated by people known to the victim, which blows out of the water any suggestion that women somehow provoke an unplanned attack by drinking alcohol or wearing short skirts.

Perhaps most worryingly of all, these messages are coming from the institutions that are supposed to be tackling criminals, not policing victim behaviour. The past week also saw “banter” about rape between members of the public and the official Merseyside police Twitter account; an exchange that was retweeted nearly 1,000 times. It comes hot on the heels of revelations about officers who left an abusive voicemail on the phone of a woman who had reported domestic abuse, calling her a “fucking slag” and a “bitch”.

Now look back at the recent figures revealing that more than a quarter of all sexual offences (including rape) reported to the police are not even recorded as crimes, and ask yourself how important attitudes towards sexual violence victims are.

. . . .

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2015/nov/05/why-do-the-police-still-tell-women-that-they-should-avoid-getting-raped

[merrily]

1. Because women bad. Starting with Eve, who somehow forced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit

of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, causing all of humankind forever after all kinds of woe.

And, the Virgin Mary's giving birth to the savior of all mankind, all as foretold by a stranger angel she met on the road, apparently did not make up for that.

So women should STFU with their questions during religious services and wait until they get home so their husbands can answer them. Aka, why women should not be priests or popes.

If you think teaching these things for centuries has nothing to do with Western attitudes toward rape in 2015, think again.

I have other theories based upon how cavemen must have viewed women, but, for now, I'll stick with the so-called Common Era.

[niyad]

2. excellent points

[scscholar]

3. You're really hurting your message when...

you spam it over and over and over and over again. Try to speak clearly instead of spewing a constant stream of yelling. YOU NEED TO STOP YELLING AT US. STOP YELLING.

[niyad]

4. your concern is duly noted.

[brer cat]

6. There is no one yelling except you.

Cross-posting gives more people an opportunity to see the thread, and it isn't spam. Chill out!

[Demeter]

5. Because they want you to use common sense, and stop acting like a child

Suppose it were a wild animal...a lion, and not a violent man stalking you. Would you ignore the advice of people who cannot personally escort you, nor can they ensure that there are no hungry lions about?

For pity's sake! Grow up a little. Even men have to protect themselves against predators!

[niyad]

7. and your concern is duly noted. and I do not need to be told to "grow up" when we are discussing

the way MEN tell WOMEN to avoid rape, rather than telling the MEN to STOP RAPING. sorry if this is beyond the comprehension of some.

[Demeter]

8. The fallacy in your argument is that you think both groups of men are the same

They aren't.

[niyad]

9. you have no idea how I see them, but nice deflection.

[Demeter]

10. and the SECOND fallacy in your argument is the number of women both on and off the

police force, that ALSO say the same thing.

It had nothing to do with how you see people, but with how you use the language.