Saturday November 18, 2006
Stop blaming it on rape victims
I AM writing in response to Sylvia Hsu-Chen Yip’s “Sexy dressing can be provocative” (The Star, Nov16).
Her statement that rape victims who dress provocatively “asked for it” is an insensitive and outdated stereotype of why men rape.
Since the 70s, rape is no longer explained as a sexually motivated crime. Instead, rape is now generally accepted as an act of violence for men to gain power over women.
However, current research indicates that rape is far too complex to be oversimplified either as an act of sex or an act of power.
Thus, until we have further proof, we should not inflict even more trauma on the rape victim by condemning her as the cause of the rape.
Why is it that when a sexual crime is committed, attention is always paid first to the victim, not to the perpetrator?
Many do not excuse the wrongfulness of a man committing sexual crimes.
Yet, the fact that the victim is scrutinised more than the perpetrator already puts the onus of the crime upon the victim.
Rather than the perpetrator being judged, the victim is on trial instead.
Is this fair, considering the fact that we do not have concrete evidence regarding the role of a woman’s dress in sexual crimes?
Why do we condemn a murderer so quickly, but yet ignore a rapist?
A further complication with blaming a woman’s “provocative” dressing for a rape is the definition of “provocative dressing” itself.
What one man may consider provocative may not be considered so to another. Who then defines what provocative dressing is and what is not?
Instead of getting tangled up in such problems, perhaps we should focus our attention where it is due: the rapist.
No matter how “tempted” he was, that does not excuse him from scarring a woman for life.
Stop blaming the victim. Without a perpetrator, there is no crime.
RK BOO,
Kuala Lumpur.
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