Allow me to conduct a lovely chorus of "What the Hell?!".
From Feministing:
Women drinkers told to wear nice pantsThis is just beyond anything I could ever possibly say. However, I think I'll try to put my complete and utter feminazi rage into eloquent script. :)
By Anil Dawar
(Filed: 13/07/2006)
A police magazine is advising women planning a drunken night out to ensure they had waxed and were "wearing nice pants" in case they collapsed.
Suffolk Police's Safe! magazine carries a reminder for readers "intent on getting ratted", alongside a picture of a scantily-clad woman on the floor with the caption "if you've got it don't flaunt it".
It reads: "If you fall over or pass out, remember your skirt or dress may ride up. You could show off more than you intended - for all our sakes, please make sure you're wearing nice pants and that you've recently had a wax. Better still, eat before you go out, think about how much you're drinking, pace yourself and drink plenty of water in between bevvies or better still, don't get in this sorry state - it's not nice."
Suffolk police defended its "gossipy, tongue-in-cheek style" saying officers hoped it would encourage young women to pick up the magazine and take notice.
"There have been a number of attacks on women who have been drinking and there is a serious safety message to get across," said a police spokesman.
Where the hell do they get off with such victim-blaming? Better yet, where the hell do they get off joking about the rape while blaming the victims of it?
Please, somebody tell me what is so "tongue-in-cheek" about men not being able to respect women enough to allow them to have the liberty they enjoy without the fear of being sexually assaulted? This is a classic example of how patriarchal societies put the burden of rape prevention on the potential victims. We all know this is an impossible feat, so why do we expect it out of women? Shouldn't we be putting more of an emphasis on, oh shucks I dunno, making sure men STOP raping women? I'm sorry, but women have a right to be safe from sexual assault. They will not have that freedom until sexual assault is a rare occurrence, and blaming the victim of said assault is not the way to accomplish that goal.
An awesome point was brought up in the comment section of the Feministing post as well. What if this were an article telling men to make sure they waxed their hairy asses before they went out drinking, just in case they passed out and one of their buddies got a little too fresh? I doubt that would go over very well, and I don't think it would be laughed off as "gossipy and tongue-in-cheek". Why? Maybe because rape ISN'T FUCKING FUNNY.
That is all.
18 comments:
I'm confused; why is letting people see up your skirt a liberty?
Was that a question posed to me?
Yeah.
you can never stop all rapes
But shouldnt some degree of prevention be pinned on women?
Not going dressed as a whore will make you less of a target wont it?
I make sure, that every time I go to a party: I tear up the carpet. I make sure that I'm wearing a skirt, as well (easier access you know) and drink until I pass out (I even slip in some roofies, to mellow my ass out). I want to be perfect, so when that guy takes advantage of me, he can tell all his buddies the next day how clean and easy I am. I've been getting TONS of dates, recently.
:D
Dear Greg,
Telling men not to stick their dick in a drunk woman would do much more good than making women responsible for the sexual actions of men.
That is all. There will be no victim blaming on this blog.
Dear Drew,
I don't believe that was said. However, I would say that it should be a liberty for women to go out to a bar with their friends safely, wouldn't you? The fact that some women get plastered and pass out shouldn't exactly make it so that other women should be limited in their drinking or partying. Advice is good, joking about rapists and the most common date rape drug is not advice. It's offensive and ridiculous. What did any woman get from that that she doesn't already know? The way I see it: That rape is her fault if she drank.
I mean, men get to drink and feel safe from sexual assault, don't they? If you were going to go out drinking, would you be cautious so that you weren't wearing something too "slutty" so that dudes like Greg here don't think it's okay to molest you and blame you for it? Do you consider whether or not your female friends will treat you with respect if you DO happen to pass out? Because these are all things a woman has to consider because she's not safe in this society. Men are, for the most part. So I see no reason why you should dwell on the "Omg like you think womenz have a right to show their panties" deal because that's not what this is about and you know it.
I'm sorry, I REALLY don't understand.
What does a woman being waxed have to do with her passing out from drinking?
Was that supposed to be funny..?
That is part of what this is about, though. If I were to get drunk and passed out ('cuz you know how hard I party ;-) ) then I would not be very exposed. If a woman did and was wearing a short skirt, that would show a decent amount, which to me is definitely not good. Not because people are going to rape her, but simply because I don't feel it right to have onesself exposed like that.
I agree with the rest of what you said, except for one thing which I'm not sure how to interpret: "That rape is her fault if she drank." That's what you're interpreting the article to mean, not your own personal belief, right?
Drew:
So you're saying that women don't have the right to wear a skirt and go out drinking? You're good to go because your Man Uniform (tm) doesn't show your goods if you pass out?
If one passes out, it is not so they can show their nads. I don't think women go out drinking so they can pass out and give everyone a good show. However, if they happens to do so, do you know what that's called? An accident. We don't penalize a whole gender just because certain members happened to have that accident. That's what we call "sexism".
P.S.- Of course I don't actually believe that. That's what I'm interpreting the article's attitude to be. That if women happen to be irresponsible while they're drinking, they somehow were "asking for it". That, and that rape is "haha funny", when it most certainly is not.
Steve:
Yes. I think it was supposed to be funny. At least, some people thought it was funny. Those people are polluting the gene pool, but they thought it was funny.
And no, I don't get the correlation either.
They certainly do have that right. However if someone is wearing a skirt (male or female, though the former is slightly more rare) then he or she should be careful not to drink so much that he or she passes out and exposes himself or herself. Really, that should be common sense for anyone, with or without skirt; however, wearing the skirt further worsens things.
Tell me where you buy the "My pass-out limit" meter that never fails and maybe you'll have a point that justifies this disgusting article. The fact of the matter is" Both genders do stupid things when drunk. Women pass out and show their nads, men jump off of roofs and break their legs (which in my opinion, seems to be the general consensus, that's not what I'm saying definitely happens). Do either call for distasteful articles or people saying "OMG this gender shouldn't drink blahblahblah because showing what's under your skirt isn't a liberty lawlz"? No. People know this. People KNOW that they could pass out if they get drunk. But no one says "I'm going to get so drunk I pass out and puke and get alcohol poisoning! Yay!". It's an unforeseen event that occurred because of a lapse in judgement. It happens ALL THE TIME. If anything, I would think that jumping off a roof and hurting yourself would be of more importance than-oh noes-a vagina! Put that nasty dick-holster away, hussy!
I just don't see the importance. What happens when you see a pussy? Do you shrivel up? Do you die? Do you stop producing testosterone? No. There are more important things to be worried about. One of them BEING getting people to stop raping drunk women.
There is not such meter, obviously; however, people should drink, well, responsibly. If you can't drink without figuring out that you shouldn't be drinking in between pukes, then you really shouldn't be drinking.
My point is this: go ahead and drink and enjoy yourself, but don't be stupid about it. It is not anyone's right to get drunk and expose yourself (conscious or not), piss on anything in sight, jump or a roof, or drive. (Though, obviously, that still doesn't justify this article.)
Sooo. . .your point doesn't have much to do with mine or my post?
Greeeaaaat.
I don't think people should drink until they pass out. Period. It's gross. I don't have any respect for that. Which is why I don't understand the huge deal about this issue.
It was; my point is that the woman in the picture wasn't really exercising "the liberty that she enjoys".
You guys aren't getting my point, though. I don't think people should do that either, but they do have the liberty to go out and have fun. If that fun includes drinking, so be it. What I'm saying is, however, that the attitude in this article is very offensive and places too much blame on the drunk woman. It's very poor taste. I mean, do people make light of things like drunk driving? Do you see articles that are like "Lol make sure you buy a Corvette before you drink and drive so you'll pay more when you crash!"? I've never seen an article like that, and I think it's rather poor taste. Women have a right to feel safe and not be blamed for things that are beyond their control. If you blame a woman for passing out drunk and showing what's under her skirt, why wouldn't you blame her for passing out drunk and then subsequently getting raped? Isn't it the same concept?
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