Can we do anything about this?

[tethersend]

Knowing the power of MN, I am sick of walking past this poster every day, and wonder if there is anything we can do about it?

Or is it just me?

What about the ads about locking your house, don't leave your mobile on the bar when going to the toilet etc? And the ads for elderly people to ask for id when someone visits them?

Should they address the thieves and say 'please dont break into peoples homes'?

They were ads on the tv dittany

This isn't an anti rape poster.

This is a 'use text our service' advert.

The service is not free, they are trying to sell a product by blaming women for rape.

Accepting the status quo that there 'just are' rapists prowling the street in unlicensed minicabs, and women had better watch out disgusts me. And this is from TFL.

*'use our text service'

Blame Boris the guy is an ass anyway.

home office rape advert another

There are loads of home office adverts about other crimes. There was one recently about teenage domestic violence, there was one where a couple show a theif around their home in the style of an estate agent, pointing out the bad locks and alarm system. They have a knife crime one where the boy is paralysed in a knife fight and there are one aimed at older people about letting 'workmen' into their homes.

Keeping your car safe - here are some tips.

How is this so different?

Of course we are not going to advise women not to enter into relationships with men.

But why can't we talk about minimising risks?

Especially given that rape evidence often comes down to "his word v her word" - why not talk about tips to minimise the risk.

The risk in a given situation - i.e. from talking an unlicensed taxi.

For women on average the statistical likelihood of being raped by someone you know is I understand higher than by a stranger - but maybe for an individual woman who is not with an abusive partner and doesn't have abusive friends - their risk of being raped by a stranger may be higher than by someone they know!

I think that if this makes people think about their personal safety then that is good.

Tethersend's point about this campaign being nothing more than an advert is valid. It takes on no responsibility and places blame firmly with the victim. Shock tactics are the driver here and the legitimate company can come to the rescue of the damsel in distress....utter bollocks. Target the unlicensed minicab drivers if they are the rapists and don't focus attention on victimising women for being women

I agree that the ad shifts blame onto rape victims. I can understand why they're doing it, and to be fair it is true that taking unbooked minicabs isn't safe and people should be made aware of it - I certainly don't have a solution to how to point out the dangers without there being an element of victim blaming, disgusting though it may be. But that advert in particular, as a rape victim, I find shocking and upsetting every time I see it. I don't think it was very well thought through. It's a tricky situation, and there's a fine, fine line between saying to women "rape happens, this may help keep you safe" (which does need to be said, because as important as it is to condemn rape, it is highly unlikely that we will ever eradicate entirely from society) and pointing the finger of blame at the victim.

I think the main difference between this advert and the others mentioned, is that if an old age pensioner were robbed after not asking for id (for example), neither the police, the court, nor the general public would say to him or her "well you opened the front door and didn't ask for id, you deserved it and you are to blame." Whereas that happens to rape victims every day.

Sorry to rant, I just feel very strongly!

There are plenty of people who are unaware of all sorts of things that the govenment has campaigns against. Everyone knows that having a knife through your spinal cord will paralyse you but an advert to that affect might hammer the point home a bit. People know that you shouldn't cut a sandwich with a knife you have just used for raw chicken but the govenment still puts an advert out about it. The point is that info will seep into the populuation over time and eventually people won't be elecrocuting themselves on pylons or calling the police instead of the coastguard or leaving gates open in fields full of livestock. Its because of the years of marketing that 'everybody knows' all sorts of stuff.

It's the underlying message that is seeping into the collective consciousness that "it's your fault as a woman that you are getting raped"

I didn't read that and see it as blaming the victim. it's a poster to highlight a potential danger. It's very difficult to portray something with one picture and a few words and the fact that it is being discussed here means that it is doing it's job: highlighting the possible dangers of getting into an unlicensed cab.

That sort of advert makes me want to totally disregard its advice as pish, choufleur, it's patronising

Can I just repeat that this is not a government campaign against rape, but an advert for a particular service offered by TFL- for a charge.

Even if it were a campaign, why not target the rapists? It's no use pointing to other campaigns which blame the victims of crime; they are wrong too. They are not, however, a feminist issue. I believe this poster -this advert- is.

I don't think the underlying message is "it's your fault as a woman that you are getting raped".I think the underlying message is "if you get into a car with someone you don't know you are putting yourself in a vulnerable situation"

The stickers on the defaced poster were giving advice too( good advice based on facts,by the lok of it,but still advice) - scream ,fight,argue, - these aren't going to be very effective if you are trapped in a car,are they?

I can see that we want to avoid 'taking necessary risks' - and agree with the argument about locking your house etc (though we left the car unlocked in Hackney for a night, and guess what? It was fine). Would argue though that all these ever so slightly piss me off as they DO blame the victim rather than the perpetrator.

The knife crime ones however are addressed to the potential criminal - don't carry a knife. So not so ridiculous to think of a poster campaign against potential rapists.

In fact, dh tells me there is/was a series of adverts running on TalkSport ( I know) along the lines of 'if she said no, it means no'. Scary, but maybe it made someone think again. I don't buy the 'once a criminal, always an evil criminal and there ain't nothing we can do about it' line, myself.

"I don't think the underlying message is "it's your fault as a woman that you are getting raped".I think the underlying message is "if you get into a car with someone you don't know you are putting yourself in a vulnerable situation"".....

.....so use our text service to make sure you don't get raped

That's the point, pogleswood, that is being made here....."you are putting yourself in a vulnerable situation", suggest you are the one at fault, you are making yourself vulnerable, therefore anything that happens to you is your fault not the person offending

And tethersend, I'm with you. Not acceptable to use a rape dramatisation to sell a product. Distressing images to stop people messing about with fireworks, yes. To advertise a text service, no.

A friend of mine's dd was sexually assaulted, stabbed and left for dead by the side of the road after being picked up by someone masquerading as a minicab driver outside a club. If this ad makes ONE person think twice and not end up in that situation, it is worth it.

I agree with the OP. Not only is it victim blaming and disproportionate, it feeds the culture of fear in our society and in fact possibly makes women behave more like victims, and men more likely to see them in that light.

GRRR.