If you pay any attention to Twitter you will know that Mia Freedman wrote an article about how she will teach her daughter that getting drunk puts you at greater risk of being raped. You will also know that a lot of people were very upset about this and a number of people have written excellent pieces about why this is the wrong way to think and an example of victim blaming. I’m not going to repeat their excellent points. What I’m interested in is a respectful examination of why Freedman and people like her seem determined to "find excuses" or "explain" rape and sexual assault. Why is there a compulsion to set out fairly arbitrary guidelines that supposedly prevent assaults?
Perhaps it is about avoiding the reality that you could be a victim at any time. By talking about victims as a certain type of woman, who is not like you, it becomes easier to believe that rape or assault won’t happen to you. You don’t drink too much, you don’t walk down dark alleys alone, you don’t wear short skirts, so this won’t happen to you.
Are we witnessing the Just World Hypothesis in action? It's an irrational belief that people deserve what happens to them. Rape is a terrible experience; under Just World Hypothesis you can make sense of this heinous crime by determining that bad things happen to bad people, or at the very least people who have done something wrong or erred in some way. It is disconcerting to acknowledge that the world is random and unfair and we have very little control over the behaviour of others. It is comforting to believe that you can control what happens to you simply be being a good person.
The phenomenon of Rape Myth Acceptance has been widely studied. There is even a handy guide called the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale that measures a subject’s willingness to find a victim culpable in their rape. Research using this scale has demonstrated very interesting patterns. There is a direct link between high acceptance of rape myths and hostility towards women.
This isn’t just theoretical. Studies have demonstrated that police officers have higher levels of acceptance of rape myths than others. This has serious consequences for victims as further investigations proved that people who have higher levels of rape myth acceptance are more likely than others to utilise these misconstructions to interpret and explain an ambiguous situation involving an alleged rape. They also show less empathy for victims.
Challenging rape myths is one of the most effective tools we can utilise in preventing rape. By exploring and addressing common myths like ‘She caused it by her own carelessness/stupidity/drunkenness’ we can begin to unpick a culture that routinely accepts that victims of rape and sexual assault are culpable to some degree.
Unfortunately articles like Freedman’s have the unintended consequence of putting women in more danger. The repetition and reinforcement of these myths empowers rapists and potential rapists. It teaches them that their actions will be mitigated. If you want to keep your daughters safe from rape, check where you fit on the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, adjust your thinking and educate your community.
Become a rape mythbuster.
