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Old January 27th, 2013 #1
Bev
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Default 'Short skirts and high heels risk rape' warning lands male MP in sexism storm

Quote:
A Tory MP has come under fire for saying that women are putting themselves at risk of rape by wearing short skirts and high heels.

Richard Graham’s comments sparked outrage among women’s groups, who insist that if a woman becomes a victim of rape it is not because of her dress style.

Mr Graham, who in the past likened a night out in his constituency city of Gloucester to ‘decadent Rome’, said: ‘A night out is about having fun without putting yourself at risk.

‘If you are a young woman on her own trying to walk back home through a park early in the morning in a tight, short skirt and high shoes, and there’s a predator  .  .  .  if you are blind drunk wearing those clothes how able are you to get away?

‘Although we have a pretty heavy police presence, life doesn’t give you full protection from a predator all the time. You have got to help look after yourself as well.

‘It’s not about the impact of your clothes on a potential predator in my view – it’s about whether the clothes you’re wearing make it harder to get away from a predator.’

Mr Graham’s comments come just days after actress Joanna Lumley said women should dress demurely to avoid being ‘raped or robbed’.

Speaking at a Marks & Spencer campaign launch last week, Ms Lumley said: ‘Don’t look like trash, don’t get drunk, don’t be sick down your front, don’t break your heels and stagger about in the wrong clothes at midnight. This is bad.




‘I promise it is better to look after yourself properly  .  .  .  don’t be sick in the gutter at midnight in a silly dress with no money to get a taxi home because somebody will take advantage of you – either rape you, or they’ll knock you on the head or they’ll rob you.’


But the MP’s comments provoked anger from charities.


A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Rape Crisis Centre said rape was the crime, not drunkenness, and that the offence was ‘stimulated by desire for power and to humiliate and degrade’.

The spokeswoman added: ‘It’s got nothing to do with how you are dressed or whether you are drunk.’


Jo Wood, a trustee of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: ‘These comments have set us back about 100 years.

'It doesn’t matter if you are off your face and lying naked on a bench – that man takes it upon himself to rape you.

‘This should be about putting the blame back on perpetrators.’

Vivienne Hayes, of the Women’s Resource Centre, added: ‘Such comments frighteningly normalise victim-blaming.

‘They reallocate blame from the perpetrator to the victim.

'The problem is not female vulnerability but a macho culture which produces the notion of male entitlement – a culture which consistently fails women through disbelief, victim-blaming and failure to investigate.’

Chief Inspector Richard Burge, of Gloucestershire Police, agreed being drunk could put people at risk.

He said: ‘We would appeal to everyone not to drink so much that you don’t know what’s happening.

‘Excessive alcohol can make you vulnerable so stay with friends and if you are with a friend, try to look out for them too.’


The Liberal Democrat MP who sparked outrage for saying ‘the Jews’ had not learned from the murder of six million in the Holocaust apologised last night.

Bradford MP David Ward said he was sorry for any ‘unintended offence’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268916/Richard-Graham-Short-skirts-high-heels-risk-rape-warning-lands-male-MP-sexism-storm.html

To be honest, I can't see that much wrong with what he said. He wasn't focussing on clothes specifically, but on behaviour as well. Whilst the police appear unwilling and unable to catch criminals, and the odd few that do get caught are indulged by the judiciary in their Action Man and asking for it excuses, the fact of life in Britain is that people - not just women - should take precautions. If that means behaving like civilised people instead of drunken chavs, oh well.

I would have preferred him to attack the perpetrators, the police and the judiciary as well as trying to advise potential victims on how to make themselves less visible to scum, but one can't have everything.
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Old January 27th, 2013 #2
SUNOFSPARTA
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Are druken girls in short skirts a problem in the UK? Sounds like a matter that I should investigate closely,personaly maybe by offering free rides when some poor tipsy girls has had too much.

 
Old January 27th, 2013 #3
Englisc
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Richard Graham’s comments sparked outrage among women’s groups, who insist that if a woman becomes a victim of rape it is not because of her dress style.
It's not because of the short skirts etc., but it could be a contributing factor. And if it is, then surely it should be combated?

I don't think it's always the case though. Most rapes are on people known to the attacker.
 
Old January 27th, 2013 #4
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Originally Posted by SUNOFSPARTA View Post
Are druken girls in short skirts a problem in the UK? Sounds like a matter that I should investigate closely,personaly maybe by offering free rides when some poor tipsy girls has had too much.



Yes, very much so. City streets are paved with teens and early 20's girls wearing the bare minimum to avoid getting nicked under public decency laws off their faces and staggering all over the place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Englisc View Post
It's not because of the short skirts etc., but it could be a contributing factor. And if it is, then surely it should be combated?

I don't think it's always the case though. Most rapes are on people known to the attacker.
Yes, that's another good point.

Another high rape scenario that I've been noticing recently involves fake taxi drivers, but it would be waycist of the MP to have mentioned that.
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Old January 27th, 2013 #5
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The Police are not entirely unresponsive to the issue.Two young girls that I know were in such attire when nicked for smashing a kebab shop window.When released the next day they had been issued with fleece tracksuits and slippers like interned palestinians get off of the jews when released
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Chase them into the swamps
 
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