The Student Room Group

Women - do they deserve to be raped?

Ignore the thread's title, I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

My personal view is that no one ever deserves to be raped, so let me make that clear.

However, I was having this argument with my friend, who seemed to think that there is nothing a woman could do to prevent such a horrific crime. I stated that drinking silly amounts of alcohol, dressed in next to nothing, often in an unfamiliar environment are perhaps not the best steps to take to deter possible attackers.

So although they do not deserve to be the victim of sexual assaults, they are perhaps foolish in their actions. The way I'd like to illustrate it is that if you leave your front door wide open, and you are burgled, you do not DESERVE to have been burgled, but could perhaps have taken adequate measures to avoid it.

I know I can sometimes be a cantankerous sod on these pages, which is why I would like to point out that I feel very strongly about such crimes. So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?

Discuss.

Scroll to see replies

Well of course if you can take precautions to avoid something unpleasant, you should. That's a no-brainer.
Reply 2
coaster
Ignore the thread's title, I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

My personal view is that no one ever deserves to be raped, so let me make that clear.

However, I was having this argument with my friend, who seemed to think that there is nothing a woman could do to prevent such a horrific crime. I stated that drinking silly amounts of alcohol, dressed in next to nothing, often in an unfamiliar environment are perhaps not the best steps to take to deter possible attackers.

So although they do not deserve to be the victim of sexual assaults, they are perhaps foolish in their actions. The way I'd like to illustrate it is that if you leave your front door wide open, and you are burgled, you do not DESERVE to have been burgled, but could perhaps have taken adequate measures to avoid it.

I know I can sometimes be a cantankerous sod on these pages, which is why I would like to point out that I feel very strongly about such crimes. So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?

Discuss.


No, people shouldn't commit violent crimes.
i have a lot of sympathy for those who do get raped, its one of the worse crimes you could do to a woman (or a man :O) but a lot of them walk right into it the situation of being raped.

drinking too much then staggering home with one shoe isnt the best way to avoid that sort of attack. they'd be alot safer if they stayed in groups of 2 or 3 when getting home.

i guess they just need to be educated and be prepared.

but as a whole i dont blame the woman at all but society, and how how peados and rapists are alowed to roam the streets
coaster
Ignore the thread's title, I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

My personal view is that no one ever deserves to be raped, so let me make that clear.

However, I was having this argument with my friend, who seemed to think that there is nothing a woman could do to prevent such a horrific crime. I stated that drinking silly amounts of alcohol, dressed in next to nothing, often in an unfamiliar environment are perhaps not the best steps to take to deter possible attackers.

So although they do not deserve to be the victim of sexual assaults, they are perhaps foolish in their actions. The way I'd like to illustrate it is that if you leave your front door wide open, and you are burgled, you do not DESERVE to have been burgled, but could perhaps have taken adequate measures to avoid it.

I know I can sometimes be a cantankerous sod on these pages, which is why I would like to point out that I feel very strongly about such crimes. So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?

Discuss.


So basically, women, don't drink, and always wear a Burkha, or you're asking for it. Its odd, how you stress you don't think this is the case, while using it as a point of debate at the same time. It isn't a point of debate.

Women should be able to walk around in thongs and not be subjected to the forced sex of a man. How dare anyone have sex with someone who doesn't want it? That is all it boils down to! There isn't any more to it.
10inchpianist
i have a lot of sympathy for those who do get raped, its one of the worse crimes you could do to a woman (or a man :O) but a lot of them walk right into it the situation of being raped.

drinking too much then staggering home with one shoe isnt the best way to avoid that sort of attack. they'd be alot safer if they stayed in groups of 2 or 3 when getting home.

i guess they just need to be educated and be prepared.

but as a whole i dont blame the woman at all but society, and how how peados and rapists are alowed to roam the streets


What good is it to say they "walk right into it" or "they drink too much". None of these factors have anything to do with whether someone deserves to be raped. That is the question. And the answer is absolute. Drinking loads and wearing revealing gear shouldn't used as a kind of "they don't deserve it, BUT".

It really annoys me when people say things like "i blame society for letting rapists roam the streets", as though the government can foresee who is going to be a rapist and who isn't
Reply 6
It's not a question of what women should be able to do, common sense permits that they should be able to wear whatever they want, whenever they want and drink as much as they like. That wasn't what I was asking.

Knowing what possible could happen to them in this situation, are they a tad foolish to do so?

People should be able to leave their doors and cars unlocked etc. but most people take sensible steps to prevent crime rather than encourage it.

Also, it's even more dangerous abroad. In places like Ibiza and Faliraki etc. there are some women who drink excessively, wear nothing and don't know where the hell they are. They do not deserve to be attacked, no one does, but then again they could be lowering the odds considerably if they exercised a little common sense.
cottonmouth
What good is it to say they "walk right into it" or "they drink too much". None of these factors have anything to do with whether someone deserves to be raped. That is the question. And the answer is absolute. Drinking loads and wearing revealing gear shouldn't used as a kind of "they don't deserve it, BUT".

It really annoys me when people say things like "i blame society for letting rapists roam the streets", as though the government can foresee who is going to be a rapist and who isn't


hold up hun. what about the countries where rape is a very very uncommon sight ? e.g. indonesia. it has an incredibly low rate of such crimes because of the society they made for themselves.

i never blamed the government for not having intelligence on rapists and peados, im blaming society as a whole for getting in that mess in the first place. the government cant do anything to those people but arrest and detain them

no one deserves to be raped unless they do something unnecessarily bad.
coaster
It's not a question of what women should be able to do, common sense permits that they should be able to wear whatever they want, whenever they want and drink as much as they like. That wasn't what I was asking.

Knowing what possible could happen to them in this situation, are they a tad foolish to do so?

People should be able to leave their doors and cars unlocked etc. but most people take sensible steps to prevent crime rather than encourage it.

Also, it's even more dangerous abroad. In places like Ibiza and Faliraki etc. there are some women who drink excessively, wear nothing and don't know where the hell they are. They do not deserve to be attacked, no one does, but then again they could be lowering the odds considerably if they exercised a little common sense.



Well then this thread is pointless and stupid. If all your saying is that women who drink loads and wear little are more likely to get raped, in much the same way as a house is more likely to be burgled if it leaves its doors wide open, then what is the point?

What are we getting at? Shall we sit here nodding heads saying yes, yes, women are foolish if they drink loads and wear short skirts? How dare a woman drink the way a man does! Lets not separate the drinking done by women and men.

Drinking too much is stupid and foolish full stop, and that is a different issue from the one of rape. A man who has drank loads is more likely to get mugged. The drinking is a different issue from whether women deserve to be raped or not.
10inchpianist
hold up hun. what about the countries where rape is a very very uncommon sight ? e.g. indonesia. it has an incredibly low rate of such crimes because of the society they made for themselves.

i never blamed the government for not having intelligence on rapists and peados, im blaming society as a whole for getting in that mess in the first place. the government cant do anything to those people but arrest and detain them

no one deserves to be raped unless they do something unnecessarily bad.


Haha, "hun".

An uncommon sight? Go get the stats, ad then prove that they aren't lower because rapes aren't reported as much, because of the Islamic society (Indonesia is the lagest Islamic nation in the world), which pretty much prevents women from daring to go to the police. Believe me, your rose-tinted view of Indonesia being a rape-free haven is naive to say the least.

You are blaming society as a whole for what exactly? High rape figures?

And you agree with rape if you belive the person has done something bad? Quite a character, you are. Youa gree with a man forcing his penisinto the orifice of another and having painful sex with them, leaving them bleeding and traumatised, dehumanised, pregnant, HIV positive, i could go on, if you think they've done something "unnecessarily bad"?
coaster
Ignore the thread's title, I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

My personal view is that no one ever deserves to be raped, so let me make that clear.

However, I was having this argument with my friend, who seemed to think that there is nothing a woman could do to prevent such a horrific crime. I stated that drinking silly amounts of alcohol, dressed in next to nothing, often in an unfamiliar environment are perhaps not the best steps to take to deter possible attackers.

So although they do not deserve to be the victim of sexual assaults, they are perhaps foolish in their actions. The way I'd like to illustrate it is that if you leave your front door wide open, and you are burgled, you do not DESERVE to have been burgled, but could perhaps have taken adequate measures to avoid it.

I know I can sometimes be a cantankerous sod on these pages, which is why I would like to point out that I feel very strongly about such crimes. So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?

Discuss.


Make that as the thread title, or something shorter. The current title you have given can connote to be quite offensive to females.
Reply 11
10inchpianist
i have a lot of sympathy for those who do get raped, its one of the worse crimes you could do to a woman (or a man :O) but a lot of them walk right into it the situation of being raped.

drinking too much then staggering home with one shoe isnt the best way to avoid that sort of attack. they'd be alot safer if they stayed in groups of 2 or 3 when getting home.

i guess they just need to be educated and be prepared.

but as a whole i dont blame the woman at all but society, and how how peados and rapists are alowed to roam the streets


Yeah we've had that for a while now, we're allowed to vote too.
Reply 12
coaster

So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?


Should you leave the door to your house open when you go out?
Of course they do not "deserve" it. And in an ideal world they should be able to do what they want with no fear. But that is not reality and drunkenly wandering around in the dark alone is a bad idea. There should be some personal responsibility for safety. I don't wander round dodgy areas at night waving my iPod and phone around because it'd invite trouble. Unfortunately a drunken woman wearing little is doing precisely the same thing and the trouble can potentially be much more serious. They don't deserve what happens, but they should take more steps to prevent it.
Reply 14
Actually if I walked through Brixton wearing a lovely D and G shirt with my wallet hanging out of my back pocket talking loudly down my expensive phone about how much money I just got out of the ATM at 10.30pm on my own and got robbed... you'd all call me a bloody stupid bastard.

I should be able to do it. But if I do and suffer the consequences most people would tell me I had only myself to blame. I think it's just the hysteria that surrounds rape that prevents people from taking the same view in such circumstances as have been talked about.
Reply 15
Only read the first few posts...^^
TKR
Actually if I walked through Brixton wearing a lovely D and G shirt with my wallet hanging out of my back pocket talking loudly down my expensive phone about how much money I just got out of the ATM at 10.30pm on my own and got robbed... you'd all call me a bloody stupid bastard.

I should be able to do it. But if I do and suffer the consequences most people would tell me I had only myself to blame. I think it's just the hysteria that surrounds rape that prevents people from taking the same view in such circumstances as have been talked about.

Actually if I walked through Brixton

Yep, and you know which group of people would be doing it.
happybob
Yep, and you know which group of people would be doing it.



And if it was in Yorkshire, it's be a different story. How clever you are, managing to guess which colour-group is more likely to mug you in an area largely dominated by a particular race. Brain of Britain, you are.
Reply 18
coaster
Ignore the thread's title, I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

My personal view is that no one ever deserves to be raped, so let me make that clear.

However, I was having this argument with my friend, who seemed to think that there is nothing a woman could do to prevent such a horrific crime. I stated that drinking silly amounts of alcohol, dressed in next to nothing, often in an unfamiliar environment are perhaps not the best steps to take to deter possible attackers.

So although they do not deserve to be the victim of sexual assaults, they are perhaps foolish in their actions. The way I'd like to illustrate it is that if you leave your front door wide open, and you are burgled, you do not DESERVE to have been burgled, but could perhaps have taken adequate measures to avoid it.

I know I can sometimes be a cantankerous sod on these pages, which is why I would like to point out that I feel very strongly about such crimes. So my question is, should women be more sensible and pro-active and not let themselves be placed in such a vulnerable position?

Discuss.


Well, when you think about the fact that most rape victims are raped by someone they know e.g. a husband, boyfriend, friend and etc, and that rape in general is about power and not sexual attraction, the recommendations you make about dressing more conservatively, and not getting pissed are to a large extent irrelevant.

Although I understand the point of view your coming from, and I admire the fact that you repeatedly distanced yourself from some who claim 'women deserved it', I think it is important to understand that under no circumstance whatsoever should rape take place, and education and other forces should be enacted to deal with this problem. We need a change in social attitudes to make an ultimate difference in how rape is viewed in society.

To say that women should not do this and not do that in order to avoid rape is like someone saying in the USA during the 1950's that 'Although I disagree with lynchings, African Americans should not walk into White neighbourhoods, and arouse the white Americans, and should not dress inappropriately near or to white Americans'. Why should the blacks in the USA tread softly around whites during the 1950's to avoid lynching, and why should women tread softly to avoid rape?
Reply 19
I don't think anyone can ever deserve a crime to be commited against them, however you will obviously have less sympathy for someone who - despite being informed of the dangers - continues to act stupidly and not take simple precautions to prevent it.