University of Toledo DJ Jimmy Momenee's comments on the Steubenville rape trial divided his followers between agreement and considerable backlash. He later resigned following the outrage.
“Was this any way your fault? You weren’t provocative?”
These were the questions 2SM radio show morning host John Laws asked a female caller who identified herself as a victim of sexual assault by five family members between the age of six to sixteen. Taped late last week, the video is now being widely debated.
He is not the first to place emphasis upon the victim’s role in an attack.
Following Jill Meagher’s death late last year, Herald Sun journalist Andrew Rule wrote extensively on her poor transport choices and how they could have contributed to her attack.
Kim Powell, writer of Australian sexual commentary blog News with Nipples, said the “safety checklist” women were told to follow was unrealistic and degrading.
“You can follow them if they make you feel safe, though there’s no guarantee they will,” Ms Powell said. “The safest thing to do is to never leave your home or let anyone else in; you’re more likely to be raped by someone you know.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics backs this up: out of the 3446 sexual assault victims tabled in 2011, 34.7% were attacked by family members or partners. In comparison, 17% were attacked by a stranger.
“But if you get drunk or break any of these unspoken rules, then our culture says you’ve only got yourself to blame,” Ms Powell said. She added that the checklist could make some assault victims choose not to report their attacks.
Carolyn Worth of the South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault believes that the age-old patriarchal system’s part of the reason for victim blaming.
“Generally speaking, it’s a man’s culture out there. Curfewing men isn’t considered a possibility.”
“Still there’s a difference between the ideology of equality and it’s application,” she said. “You have to be sensible – you should be able to travel on your own, but there are certain areas in New Delhi you wouldn’t normally travel to.”
But both Ms Worth and Ms Powell remain positive that something good can come of questioning John Law’s comments among others.
“Views on rape and females have been challenged a lot in the past three decades,” Ms Worth said. “If one video provokes debate, as it has done across this new forum in the Internet, then that’s forwarding a discussion we need to have.”
