General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Women in public, no matter how they're dressed, are not "inviting" ANYTHING. [View all]KitSileya
(4,035 posts)We had a stark naked man walk into our church (Roman Catholic) in the middle of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and you know what, our first assumption wasn't that he was a predator or a provocateur that hated the Church, but that he was mentally ill. Two men in the congregation ran up to him an escorted him outside while covering him with one of their jackets, and called the police because they are trained in dealing with such incidents. (Since this wasn't the US, the man, whom the police had been searching for because of multiple reports that he was wandering naked in town, was sent to a hospital, and evaluated. I don't know that he was mentally ill or drunk, or high, but I have seen him around town later, fully clothed and appearing to be doing fine.)
I'm not sure that anyone would assume that a man walking around in public without pants was a predator - for one, I think most of us know that a predator would never draw attention to himself in that manner. As I said, I think most of us would assume that something was wrong with him, and perhaps be scared of him, as many assume that mentally ill men are prone to violence (which isn't true, but that is how they are perceived, unfortunately.) A woman would also be considered mentally ill if she walked down the street without pants, but she wouldn't elicit fear - but some men would consider her easier prey. Because most predators are dressed, and looking for easy prey, and mentally ill women are definitely easy prey to them. And in the US, many rapists still get off scot free when their victims are unable to resist - because they're paraplegic, mentally ill, what have you.
After all, many men still consider women in public public property, and address them at their leisure, harass them in the street, accost them on public transport, get angry with them when they refuse to engage in conversation, think it's their right to hit on them regardless of the venue (and the woman's body language.) Why shouldn't rapists think that rape isn't a big thing, when so many men disregard women's body language and bodily integrity in all these lesser ways? After all, if she dresses nicely, it can't be because she feels well when dressing nicely, she must be inviting comments, at least that's what many in this thread are saying. And it's a short step from uninvited comments, to uninvited come-ons, to uninvited touching, to rape - and then she was asking for it when she dressed like that, right?