The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #86686 Message #1614068
Posted By: DMcG
26-Nov-05 - 08:02 AM
Thread Name: BS: We are going round in circles!!
Subject: RE: BS: We are going round in circles!!
Here's a clipping from the article linked to in the original post:
According to the study of attitudes toward rape in the UK, one third of those surveyed believe that women who flirt are partly at fault if someone rapes them. A third see women as being "partially or wholly" responsible for being raped if they are intoxicated. Finally, more than a quarter of those interviewed think women invite rape to some extent if they wear seductive clothing.
Now, I don't know if that was lackadaisical reporting or whether the original survey was flawed, but as presented above it seems to me that two totally different things are being mixed together here.
Firstly, there is how a crime should be treated once it has been committed: should the way the woman behaved have any influence on either whether the case is originally brought or what the sentence passed is if the assailant is convicted. In my view, no, but I recognise that we are talking about an ideal world here.
Secondly, there is the quite separate issue of whether dressing or behaving in a certain way makes a person more vulnerable to crime. And I think the answer to that has to be yes. It's true of mugging, pickpocketing, car-jacking, fraud and just about every other type of crime I can think of. Rape is no exception.