So! Ever been to a beach? Ever worn a revealing swimsuit? Well congratulations! You didn’t know it, but you were asking to be raped. Oh, you may not have thought so, but you’re not a CNN Headline News anchor, so what do you know?
Yes, Jane Velez-Mitchell declared today that the proper response to a number of rapes at Daytona Beach during Spring Break was to blame the victims, not that she was blaming the victims:
Host Jane Velez-Mitchell’s response? Word for word: “Listen, I don’t like to blame the victim, BUT…” As she goes on to – seriously – say, “If you’re scantily-clad, wearing nothing but a skimpy bikini, I mean…You’re making yourself vulnerable.”
Well, sure! I mean, okay, you’re at a beach, it’s hot, you’re going swimming, you may want to therefore wear a swimsuit. But that’s not an option, ladies! If you’re not wearing a burqini, it’s pretty much all your fault if someone sexually assaults you. And even then, one of Velez-Mitchell’s guests would wonder:
Final verdict from ex-frat boy dude: “Listen, we can’t stop rapists from committing rape. But we can reduce the number of rapes that occur by women not walking around scantily-clad and drinking so much on Spring Break.”
Um…yeah. I see a problem there. It’s the “we can’t stop rapists from committing rape” thing. Because…we can. We have.
Have we managed to do this by forcing women to wear ill-fitting sweatsuits while swimming? No. We’ve done this by saying, clearly, that rape is wrong, that rapists are scum, and that when someone is raped, it is not his or her fault — it is the rapist’s fault.
It is true, rapists will rape. But not because they saw a scantily-clad woman in a bikini on Spring Break. No, rapists will rape because they want to abuse their victims. Which is why, every day, rapists rape women who aren’t dressed provocatively, who aren’t walking alone in a dark alley late at night, who aren’t conventionally attractive, or young, or any of the things that supposedly put women at risk.
Rapists target their victims and victimize them. The women and men who are victims of rapists are guilty of nothing. Like a mugging victim, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person, and they are blameless for their attack.
No, the fault of rape lies solely with rapists. They are the ones who should be the focus of our ire. Women can’t help but exist. But everyone can choose not to rape.
Every time I see this kind of rape apologism, it makes my stomach clench and my blood pressure rise. Someone link this woman to Predator Theory, stat. Spouting this kind of crap is exactly what allows rapists to get away with raping women.
Rape? Hey, it’s a guy thing, like war, pillaging, enslavement, planet destruction–get over it!
Are they even trying anymore? For a while, I actually believed the apologists that they actually thought they were giving helpful (if moronic) advice. At this point, there isn’t even the pretext of it. It’s more of the same – cloaking bigotry in concern, like how promiscuous women lack self-respect or are risking disease.
They loathe people who flaunt their sexuality, and see rape as just punishment.
And CNN wonders why their ratings are swirling the drain.
I think someone needs to give these people a crash course in why rape actually occurs. It isn’t just because some guy is really horny and can’t contain himself when he sees a woman wearing a bikini; it’s about power and taking power from someone else. Bottom line: rape is never the victim’s fault, which is something I think CNN needs to brief their anchors on before they go and make total asses out of themselves on television and not only make themselves look bad, but also the entire network. Way to go, CNN.
“Listen, we can’t stop rapists” = “Don’t touch my privilege, bro.”
Given that the only difference in how much skin you can see between a bikini and a one-piece is the midsection I’m curious as to how they explain men being able to control themselves in the presence of one but not the other. Who knew that the stomach was so alluring?
Agree with the main point, but I hate your link. It does not really reinforce your arguement and it undermines itself.
Pingback: A Pathetic Excuse for a Blog Post « Imagine Today