General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Stop Telling Women How to Not Get Raped [View all]Ms. Toad
(33,992 posts)I have to admit that the caption sent me down a different path than the substance of the post did, to a dance I have been doing personally for 30+ years since I was raped, with rape survivors I encountered as a volunteer at a rape crisis center for a decade, with my daughter as she grew up, and now with some of her friends with whom she is volunteering at a Rape Crisis Center.
Women are never to blame for being raped. Period. End of story.
That said, the sad reality is that rapists (of all sorts - strangers to family members) are very good at picking easy targets. Just like school yard bullies are very good at picking their victims. That is part of the reason some women are raped over and over.
So through all my work with rape, I have tried to walk a careful line between reinforcing the primary truth in bold above, and encouraging women to consider a secondary truth which is that there are things you can do that may make it less likely that you will be picked out by a rapist as an easy target.
That is where the caption took me, before I got around to reading the substance of the post, which is directed to a very limited kind of messaging (which I agree needs to be stopped).