Am I victim blaming by making these comments about women's clothing?

submitted by Immortallogic from (self.PinkPillFeminism)

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[–]FuriousPenguin 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

There are women who've been raped while wearing unisex clothes, loose clothing, unattractive clothing. You were victim blaming by giving that advice. While I agree with the general statement it is up to men to stop raping or assaulting. I'm from a country where 8 month old babies are raped and 80 year old grand mothers are raped. Your comments would not apply to them. Men rape because they can. Not because the woman was dressed well.

[–]Immortallogic[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for your perspective, and that is horrendous.

So given your experience/ exposure to what you described, do you genuinely think that if a woman is dressed provocatively it has no bearing on the type/amount of negative attention she'd get from guys and she shouldn't bother being concerned about what she's wearing?

[–]FuriousPenguin 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Let me clarify. I didn't mean you literally were blaming women for getting raped for wearing short clothes. I meant the statement you made is a common Victim Blaming statement. It is what people use as an excuse and when a statement like that comes from a fellow woman men will jump on it and use it to blame the victim. Where I'm from you can't wear swimsuits at the beach. Not safely anyway and not always. You can't easily wear shorts on the street. Even at the gym, if there are men around you're blamed for trying to be a seductress. If men can workout in shorts why can't I? I'm honestly so used to people blaming the victim that I'm hyper sensitive to it. It is solid advice considering how men behave but it reminds me of that picture of that woman, holding a sign, in loose clothes, saying "this is what I was wearing when I was raped. Don't blame my clothes" or something like that. It's so often used to blame women for their assaults that it should stop being used. At this point it's just ammo for the rapists.