Thursday, April 26, 2012

TLU: They're Not Alone...

Him: Indeed. I've seen religious wingnuts (of the Muslim variety, at least) argue that women get raped for dressing down.
Me: err, we've had Toronto Police Officers state this; how do you think we ended up with Slut Walk? This preconception is not remotely a Muslim only issue.
Him: Yeah, but Muslims...
Me: I'm sorry, before you go any further I have to ask: have you missed every single "Family" TV show/movie in the history of North American Television? Of the ones that have kids growing up, how many are there without a very special episode/segment where innocent little Tina turns 15 and decides it's time for Mini-Skirts, Tube Tops, and makeup* and dad doesn't go apeshit while mom tries to talk him down.

The opinion that what you wear somehow influences your chance to get raped is not remotely limited to race, religious creed or culture no matter what spin you want to put on it. Hell, from the strict perspective of a risk analyst - that one is increasing their visibility over someone else who "fits in" - there may even be some validity to it. But, as a society we need to throw that line of thought out because the simple fact is that there can be no acceptable justification for the act of rape and when we think otherwise is when we risk going back to the days when "look at her, she was asking for it" saw guys walk because the people in charge of protecting the victim agreed.

* Or the "scandalous" thing of the day - for example I seem to recall an ad for Degrassi:TNG episode all about the "appropriateness" of visible thong strings in the middle of the Thong Song craze

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