Victim-Blaming Dressed Up as Sexual Assault Prevention

There's nothing quite like victim-blaming dressed up as sexual assault prevention tips. Listen, lady: if you get raped, it's your fault! Hey, I'm just looking out for your best interest.

Amanda Hess at The Sexist has a post on "The Worst Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Ever." The tips come from the Valdosta State University Police Department -- which shouldn't be much of a surprise, given how bad most colleges are at preventing sexual assault and actually blaming the rapists for their crime. The Sexual Assault Prevention page at the VSU police's website now appears suspiciously blank (I guess they got wind of the criticism), but luckily Hess has reprinted the worst of the so-called tips.

These include never walking around outside after dark (too bad if you live in up north where the winter sun goes down even before the workday and most school activities are over). Then there's this one: "Never let yourself or anyone that you know be a [sic] in any type of business (bar, store, restaurant, gas station)." Ah typos -- Hess indicated that the source material made no sense, but I think we can guess that the message is to never go out to eat or shopping "alone." Ever. Tips like this sound more like ways to disempower women, keep them locked at home in fear, waiting to be taken out to the store, than ways to prevent rape. I guess if you get raped going out for a carton of milk, it's your fault for not protecting yourself.

Then we have a tip that sounds like a great way to get yourself killed in a crash, and explicitly goes the victim blaming route. "If he’s driving, find the right time, and stick your fingers in his eyes. ... While he is in shock, GET OUT. (This sounds gross, but the alternative is your fault if you do not act.)" I really appreciate the idea that someone about to be raped wouldn't go for the eye-gouge because she's worried about it being "gross." You know how squeamish us women are about icky things. Oh, and if she doesn't give this a go -- maybe she's in shock, or worried about causing a fatal crash -- the rape is now her fault. I mean, she would have done it if she really didn't want to be raped.

But Valdosta State University isn't today's only victim-blaming campus in the news. After the rape of a student at Montgomery College, Hess indicates that the Dean of Student Development sent out a campus-wide e-mail stating, "This unfortunate event reminds us all of the importance of remaining vigilant when it comes to safety," with tips including looking out for "anyone hanging around campus," awareness of surroundings, and traveling in packs at night.

But, as a student pointed out in response, "Publicly responding to a rape with general safety recommendations ignores the status of rape as a hate crime. It also is victim-blaming, because it suggests that by complying with any of the recommendations (which vary in uselessness from getting into a car 'confidently' to being wary of people 'loitering' on campus which is practically the school sport) one can avoid being raped." The "tips" also had nothing to do with the conditions surrounding the rape -- the student was attacked in a women's bathroom in the middle of the day.

If you want actual good advice on how to combat sexual assault and rape on campuses -- minus the victim-blaming -- you can go to the SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape) website.

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