NYC’s New Approach To Rape Prevention: Blame Women’s Clothing
Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood has had a recent increase sexual attacks. New York City’s finest, always on the beat, has taken a proactive approach to the problem, by giving wardrobe advice to women.
The Wall Street Journal Reports:
Lauren, a South Slope resident, was walking home three blocks from the gym on Monday when she was stopped.
The 25-year-old, who did not want her last name to be used, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when she claims a police officer asked if she would stop and talk to him. He also stopped two other women wearing dresses.
According to Lauren, the officer asked if they knew what was going on in the neighborhood. When they answered in the affirmative, he asked if they knew what the guy was looking for.
“He pointed at my outfit and said, ‘Don’t you think your shorts are a little short?’” she recalled. “He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin.”
He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had “easy access,” said Lauren.
She said the officer explained that “you’re exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting.”
When asked about the unsolicited advice from the fashion police, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said in an email, ”Officers are not telling women what not to wear—there’s a TV series that does that. They are simply pointing out that as part of the pattern involving one or more men that the assailant(s) have targeted women wearing skirts.”
There is nowhere where the blame the victim mentality is more prevalent than in cases of rape. Well, here are some interesting facts that the NYPD should arm themselves with:
Myth: Rape victims provoke the attack by wearing provocative clothing
Most convicted rapists do not remember what their victims were wearing.Victims range in age from days old to those in their nineties, hardly provocative dressers.
Myth: Nice girls don’t get raped
Victims come from all ethnic, socio-economic, and religious groups. Victims in Utah range from two months to 94 years of age.
Park Slope residents have organized rallies to “Take Back (Park Slope’s) Streets.”
Like all police departments, it’s a pretty safe assumption to say that the NYPD is short on resources, but maybe, if they used some of the resources to catch the assailants instead of focusing on the victim, the streets would be safer for all women.
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Author: Wendy Gittleson
As a child of an artist and a Vietnam war activist, I was born a liberal. Raised half in rural, upstate New York and half in Boulder, Colorado, I have a unique perspective on politics and on life. I now call the San Francisco Bay area home.
8:09 pm
Sean DublFistblky Small
[Am having problems posting replies. Not sure if they've closed comments for this article or not. Am trying to post here. This is a reply for the thread near the top of the comments section.]
In your further comment, you still seem to think that a large number of men feeling lust can’t control themselves and must, while aroused, have sex with whatever female is handy, of whatever age. Why don’t more rapes happen in broad daylight, out in public arenas, like animals then? Why do men sneak into certain women’s homes and apartments?
It’s because they CAN control themselves very well and plan and stalk or sneak around and hunt for vulnerable women, often of a certain type or situation that appeals to their particular dominance fetish. They just WANT/NEED more than coitus to achieve all the satisfaction they crave. They WANT/NEED the force and violence aspect as well.
11:29 am
@David Ginsberg. Because of course men can’t be expected to control themselves once “provoked”, right? Instead of dress codes for women, how about blinders for men, being that they are all potential perps?
Put Tony Bologna to work macing the “provoked” men.