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starzkiThis is absolutely perfect and a breath of fresh air.
Sexual Assualt Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!
Now my rant about why this was needed.
If you're a female, chances are that you've had some well-wisher forward you an email that includes all of the tips that all females should follow in order to help reduce their risks of assault. Maybe you've even forwarded those emails on, yourself. That's fine. I, myself, follow many of the rules often passed around to help females.
The problem is that having a list of rules that people should follow to prevent rape makes it seem like potential victims can prevent rape. NO! No one can prevent rape except for rapists! Seriously!
I can already predict that a lot of the knee-jerk responses to this list is real, empathetic concern about any guy who reads this and isn't a rapist then might feel bad because he's being accused that he might be a rapist. Personally, I'd rather risk a few hurt feelings with a list that places the responsibility of stopping rape squarely on the shoulders of those who actually doing the assault than try to restrict the behavior and freedoms of potential victims who aren't doing anything wrong and just trying to live their lives they way they want.
My ire at those email forwards has been festering for a while and this was just the thing I needed to see to help restore my faith in humanity a bit. Sometimes I think those email forwards have done more harm than good because whenever anyone violates one of those "rules to prevent rape" and is subsequently sexually assaulted, people tsk under their breath and say, sometimes right to the victim's face, "What did you expect?" Statements like these take the responsibility for stopping assault away from the person doing the assaulting and place it on the victim, which is not okay with me in any way.
Phew. Anyway. Rant... OVER!
Sexual Assualt Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!
Now my rant about why this was needed.
If you're a female, chances are that you've had some well-wisher forward you an email that includes all of the tips that all females should follow in order to help reduce their risks of assault. Maybe you've even forwarded those emails on, yourself. That's fine. I, myself, follow many of the rules often passed around to help females.
The problem is that having a list of rules that people should follow to prevent rape makes it seem like potential victims can prevent rape. NO! No one can prevent rape except for rapists! Seriously!
I can already predict that a lot of the knee-jerk responses to this list is real, empathetic concern about any guy who reads this and isn't a rapist then might feel bad because he's being accused that he might be a rapist. Personally, I'd rather risk a few hurt feelings with a list that places the responsibility of stopping rape squarely on the shoulders of those who actually doing the assault than try to restrict the behavior and freedoms of potential victims who aren't doing anything wrong and just trying to live their lives they way they want.
My ire at those email forwards has been festering for a while and this was just the thing I needed to see to help restore my faith in humanity a bit. Sometimes I think those email forwards have done more harm than good because whenever anyone violates one of those "rules to prevent rape" and is subsequently sexually assaulted, people tsk under their breath and say, sometimes right to the victim's face, "What did you expect?" Statements like these take the responsibility for stopping assault away from the person doing the assaulting and place it on the victim, which is not okay with me in any way.
Phew. Anyway. Rant... OVER!
