Our final topic of discussion this term was sex and gender inequality; a topic I feel very strongly about. Although rape is one of the more frequent acts of violence, it is reported to the police the least. And many men and women believe that women bring rape upon themselves depending on the clothes they are wearing. Personally, it saddens and disgusts me to think that a women has to constantly be afraid or have a thought about what type of message their outfit may or may not send out to men. It doesn’t matter how much skin a women is showing, if a man asks to sleep with her and she says no, the answer is no. There should never be the excuse of, but she was asking for it because she was showing off her body. What a women is wearing doesn’t send any mixed signals to men or give any man the right to touch a women inappropriately without consent. If a women is comfortable with her body, she should be able to wear whatever she feels confident in without thinking that someone may act violently towards her. I know many women who dress the way they do for themselves and not to give off any sort of impression towards men. In NYC, it’s legal for individuals, men and women, to go topless. A women’s body on display doesn’t mean she’s looking for attention. It’s sickening that in instances of rape, women have been blamed based on what they’re wearing and that they should be the ones to change their actions.
Last summer, in NYC, there was a protest called Slut Walk, where people were bringing light to the issue of individuals placing blame on women for getting raped. In the video, an individual states that even a police officer in Brooklyn stopped a couple of girls to suggest that they do not wear skirts because there is a rapist in the neighborhood. A woman shouldn’t have to change anything. Instead, there should be deeper investigations these horrible situations.
I agree for the most part with what you said – that women shouldn’t have to fear attack because what they wear is “calling for it.” It is quite disturbing that so many victims in rape attacks have the finger pointed back at them and turned into the one at fault. And very recently, Republican Senate nominee Todd Atkin made a statement about how pregnancy from rape is rare, and that if a woman was really raped (instead of changing her mind about consent), then her body has ways of “shutting down” and preventing pregnancy. That is about the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.
In a “milder” case of sexual harassment, catcalling/hollering is equally uncalled for. Yes, women should be able to dress (or not dress) how they like without people harassing them, but that is in an ideal world. And sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. So here is where I diverge in the statement that women should be able to dress as they feel comfortable. – I’m all for self-expression, but we have to also remember that we live in a highly sexualized society in which certain manners of dress will invoke certain responses. It would be great if people didn’t act like “animals” on the time, but as a member of whichever society, you have to know and expect that people will be “animals.” Unfortunate, yes, but inevitable.
I partially agree with your comment but there’s something else that you have to pay attention to, the fact that yes it’s ok for a women to wear wherever they want, if a girl is going to be walking on the streets of NYC at night she has to be mindful of all the crazy people that are out there. Men that are drunk or high can not control what they’re doing and if they see a girl by herself almost naked, of course they could potentially rape her, i’m not by any means justifying this behavior but my point is that it could be avoided by not showing off too much and not walking alone when you’re a girl and especially alone. I’m against rape and I acknowledge that noone has the right to make a woman do what she does not want to but let’s be real, most girl dress half naked because they want to get attention from guys, the downside is that most the time they get attention from the wrong guys and when they want to stop these men, it’s too late.
Everyone should be able to dress the way they want, whether it’s a girl or a guy. But unfortunately we live in a society that’s full of crazy people, especially here in NYC. As it’s been discused in class NYC is very different from all the other cities in the country, and this difference is made by the diversity of cultures that make it so unique. Women need to able to prevent this situatuions from happening, by not exposing themselves at the wrong places. If they want to go out half naked they need to know where they’re going and who their with. Showing too much gets vulgar sometimes and there’s gotta be a limit for that.