On 12/28/2013 11:39 AM, Warp wrote:
> Patrick Elliott <kag### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>> They
>> are just not so violently enforced, but, never the less, when, say.. a
>> rape happens, the first thing trotted out is a long list of excuses
>> about what she wore, did, thought, where she was, what she did/didn't
>> say, etc. And, worse, juries fall for that crap, including other women.
>
> Sure, some people will use those things as excuses. However, I wouldn't
> say it's the point.
>
> The fact is, the risk of being raped can be affected by one's behavior
> in the exact same way as the risk being mugged can be. If, for example,
> a certain part of the city is known for the amount of crime, and you just
> carelessly walk there alone in nice expensive clothes, don't be surprised
> if you get mugged with a higher probability than if you were walking in
> a busy mall, for instance. The fact is, you *can* affect the risks with
> your actions.
>
Uh.. Wrong, wrong, wrong.. You know what the most common factors in like 
90% of all rape cases are:

1. Its within 5 miles of the victims home, or even in their home.
2. Its virtually always someone they know.
3. Its usually a guy, doing it to a woman.

So... The risk factors women should avoid are:

1. Going anyplace near their home.
2. Actually interacting with people they know.
3. Being female.

Have I got that right?

There is no other commonalities. It has never mattered to rapist what 
the woman (or rarer man) was wearing at the time, at all. Its 
statistically insignificant. Whether or not they have been drinking, is, 
again, statistically insignificant. Parties are low on the list of 
places it happens, unless its one at the place they live. While woman 
are certainly harassed a lot walking alone, there is, again, since its 
usually someone they know that does it, statistically irrelevant to the 
crime.

All of the things that you can imagine might "decrease her risk", are, 
in the grand scheme of things, nothing more that a) media 
sensationalistic BS, b) things brought up to shame them, and get the 
rapist off the hook, and/or totally statistically meaningless.

Its like telling someone that they can reduce their risk of drowning, by 
avoiding swim suits. And, its not your fault, nor was it mine, back 
before I had this pointed out to me, for believing that all those things 
do increase risk. No one **ever** gets told by the news that the rape 
victim was a mute virgin, with no history of drug/alcohol use, who had 
only one friend, and dressed like a nun. What you do here is that she 
was found three blocks away from her house, wearing nothing but 
underwear, and, based on having actually worn lipstick, must, therefor, 
have been a) headed to a party, b) assaulted by a random person, and c) 
dressed like a slut (never mind that they never found the rest of her 
clothes, and she didn't own single dress, never mind anything tight 
fitting. Its inconsistent with what people *assume* must be true, 
therefor, it can't possibly be that he only friend did it to her, at her 
house, and dumped the body later. And, even *when* they figure out that 
is true, the news media will have, by then, already painted her like a 
two bit hooker, and then, lacking any new juicy facts, dropped the story 
like a wadded up post it note.

This, BTW, is Wikipedia's take on the top "risks" (a lot of the stuff 
from a search turns up things on college students, or behind pay walls, 
which doesn't help much):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factors_associated_with_being_a_victim_of_sexual_violence

Basically - being young, being drugged, having already had abusing 
relationships (this is a behavioral issue, where such people tend to 
pick the same sort of people to date as they did before), or, 
ironically, becoming educated (which I suppose can be chalked up to 
idiots that don't like women who make more than they do, etc.), oh, and 
being a sex worker, or being in poverty.

But, then, other places:

http://www.rainn.org/statistics?gclid=COuo9aCn3LsCFTDhQgodFl0AmQ
http://www.humboldt.edu/stoprape/statistics.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/
http://image.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X%2813%2970069-X/fulltext

This one seems to be what "makes for" being a rapist - 
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html

You will note that, no where, on "any" of these sites, that deal with it 
professionally, are how they dress, where they go, if they are walking 
alone, etc. are among the list of "risks".

But, and even better one that addresses the key points of what are total 
myths:

http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/commonmyths2.php

Some excerpts:

"The suggestion of avoiding walking alone, especially at night is a 
common suggestion to avoiding sexual assault. However, only 9% of rapes 
are committed by 'strangers'. Women are raped in their homes and in 
their work places where they are less likely to be believed and even 
less likely to report."

"Reports show that there is a great diversity in the way targeted women 
act or dress. Rapists choose women based on their vulnerability not 
their physical appearance."

With a note being that the later "based on vulnerability", which one 
could presume to means "alone, or in a dark alley", is undermined by the 
fact that most assaults are by people they know, and in 
places/situations where the rapist feels they can get by with it, and 
the victim will not be believed, as per the first quote. In other words 
- there is no way in hell that all but a small percentage of rapists 
would pick someone they can't control in some way, assault them in a 
place where the victim would be believed (instead of some place assumed 
to be safe), or based on what they where wearing.

The sort that do the later, generally are "serial rapists", who know 
they might get caught, are driven by **specific** criteria, like hair 
color, or reminding them of their mother, or some other insane, and 
specific, motivation, etc. In other words, the classic, "This is how the 
once rapist, who now, realizing these women will report him, just turned 
serial killer.", types, which is bloody rare. They don't, generally, 
pick them based on dress length, or merely being alone.

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