'Sussex Police is taking an innovative approach' to their new Rape awareness campaign

[DuelingFanjo]

story

Innovative my arse.
Their Twitter response has been "we are not blaming victins! We can reduce number of victims in many ways. Friends can play a key role"

I would like to know which activities do they consider to be vulnerable and risky? Maybe just being a woman? Going out? Drinking?

[StillLostAtTheStation]

The Police have withdrawn the campaign. link he Police have withdrawn the campaign. link

If any one is interested "Caitlin" who replied to the comment from the ex-policeman Steve is me.

[HelenaDove]

Glad they have withdrawn this campaign but it never should have been orchestrated like that in the first place.

Rape is the fault of the rapist......END OF.


I remember hearing the same/similar rape apology back in the 80s when i was growing up. And here we are thirty years later STILL having to point out why its wrong.

[PuffinsAreFictitious]

OK. Bear with me, I'm thinking this one through in writing....

So.. yahoos are still blaming women for men raping them and comparing their bodily autonomy to various crime against property rather than the violent crime against the person that rape is so far, so MN.

Buffy explained the difference really well. There have been all sorts of analogies used to help explain it to the hard of thinking over the years I've been on MN and none of them have worked.

What they all agree on though is that you can't stop men from raping.

So... how about, instead of telling women that if they do X piece of magical thinking they will save themselves from being one of the

[BossWitch]

At least they've had the sense to pull the campaign. I've, luckily, never been a victim of sexual assault. I've always thought that if it did happen, I would feel completely confident in going to the police with the firm belief that they would believe me, be on my side, and do their best to catch and prosecute the person responsible. I don't feel that confidence now.

[cailindana]

That's good news. Perhaps now they can go about targeting criminals rather than women who do nothing wrong.

[DuelingFanjo]

The Police have withdrawn the campaign. link

I would be really interested to know how they are going to re-educate themselves and also would have liked to have seen the other posters they were planning on revealing.

[cailindana]

Really interesting blog Chopper.

It hits me so hard that there are women defending this. It reminds me what a number men have done on us that there are women here saying "we can't stop men raping so we have to stop women enjoying themselves instead." There is such a sad defeatist ring in that, a sense that there is no way to save ourselves from the world we live in, we just have to lie down and take it and accept that, in the world we live in, police will ignore sexual assault but take the time and money to bring out posters telling women to change what they're doing. It makes me so fucking angry. Why do we accept this shit?

[ChopperGordino]

"So we just throw our hands up and say "Oh men, what are they like, they keep on raping!" and continue to tell women they are the ones who need to change"

It's plastic women and cardboard men, Cailin:

glosswatch.com/2015/04/09/plastic-woman-cardboard-man-or-can-you-have-a-feminism-which-doesnt-expect-men-to-change/

[cailindana]

I notice you ignored my question about the hypothetical racial abuse poster Dragon. I wonder why that is?

[ChopperGordino]

What is this black and white and shades of grey stuff you keep mentioning and how is it relevant here? Does "shades of grey" mean you think rape victims have degrees of responsibility for what happened to them?

[cailindana]

So we just throw our hands up and say "Oh men, what are they like, they keep on raping!" and continue to tell women they are the ones who need to change. Great solution Dragon. How about we stop telling women to change and start focusing on the actual criminals?

[DragonWithAGirlTattoo]

for all we want the rapists to stop, they dont do they?

i'm just going to put this here again, and then leave the thread, my world is not black and white, like you are saying , i live in a world which is shades of grey.

^
"But how do you tell the difference between sensible self care and victim blaming advice? "

I think you have beautifully summed this up in one sentence.
Victim blaming advice for me is "dont wear a short skirt as you might get raped"

sensible self care for me is " dont walk down a dark alley, especially if you are drunk or otherwise not fully functional, as you might get attacked"
^

[cailindana]

Out of interest Dragon, would you be happy with a poster showing two black men saying "which one is most likely to suffer racial abuse? The one who wanders into the wrong bar." with the strapline "stick together and don't let your friends go into predominantly white bars."?

[cailindana]

I am a fucking human being Dragon. I have a right to go out and get drunk and walk down alleys if I fucking well like. And no I won't be telling my daughters that they're like flashy rolexes or houses waiting to be burgled. I'll be telling them they are people, just like men, men who get to go wherever they like without police telling them they need to change their actions, despite the fact that it is MEN who rape millions of women day in and day out. I will not accept being told that I have to be afraid. I will not.

[DuelingFanjo]

I am not a house, nor a rolex.

I am not flashing my vagina at people by walking somewhere alone. I am not asking to be broken into.

[Koalafications]

Do you genuinely want your children to live in a fucked-up world where men rape 85,000 women every year and the posters that police put out are telling women to change their actions?

^ this! FFS, THIS!!

[PomeralLights]

Dragon the majority of people telling you you're wrong about this - myself included - are rape survivors. Have you been raped? Or is this all just hypothetical for you really?

Maybe you're not listening to us coz clearly, as we've been raped, we're not good little girls who kept ourselves safe and had lovely friends who prevented our rapes. I'll just go and toss myself on a pile of damaged goods, as your burglary analogy suggests I should.

Or you could stop collaborating in this victim blaming and open your ears to what we are trying to tell you?

[cailindana]

Do you genuinely want your children to live in a fucked-up world where men rape 85,000 women every year and the posters that police put out are telling women to change their actions?

[DragonWithAGirlTattoo]

Do we expect innocent law-abiding people to live in fear and change their actions, or do we expect criminals to change their actions? Do we say "Don't get married, because husbands kills wives, don't own and iPhone, because iPhones get stolen"?

but we do all the time - Lock up your house or you will get burgled, dont flash your rolex or you might get mugged, dont leave candles burning alone or your house might burn down" life is full of "dont do this because that might happen"

that is life, and until we get the rapists to stop it IS up to all of us to take care and try and stop them

[cailindana]

I would be very interested to see research and statistics from Sussex Police on how many assaults and rapes happened in situations where women were left behind by their friends.

[ChopperGordino]

The actions that should be changed are not those of women

[cailindana]

Of course every single rape in the world could be avoided if someone had changed their actions. So could every murder, and every burglary. The things is, we don't know what actions could change those things. So what do we do? Do we expect innocent law-abiding people to live in fear and change their actions, or do we expect criminals to change their actions? Do we say "Don't get married, because husbands kills wives, don't own and iPhone, because iPhones get stolen"?
Why tell innocent, law-abiding women that they need to prevent rape?

[DragonWithAGirlTattoo]

"I think EVERY SINGLE RAPE in the whole world could be avoided if rapists didn't rape"

yes, thanks for stating the obvious, no one is arguing this