Opinion
 
 

Provocative clothing no excuse for assault

Summer Dawn Gorbea

It's the last day of classes and summer is almost within our grasp. As we all flock, scantily dressed, to our respective summer activities, I want to leave you with a bit of advice: If you want respect and safety from sexual predators, do not dress provocatively in any way.

Wait, what did I just write? Oh, that's right, I just wrote something ridiculous that should never be uttered by anyone. But it's a fact that similarly worded statements are uttered all the time. The problem is that this thinking goes beyond merely being annoying. It perpetuates ignorance and causes many women to feel a sense of guilt if they ever have been attacked. It places blame on the blameless. You might as well tell a pretty girl to wear a bag over her head because her beauty might insight lustful urges in others.

This is something that has been bothering me a great deal lately. I went to a party Friday night, and at one point I left with a friend to go buy a pack of cigarettes. In the brief course of a 10-minute walk, there were three separate occasions during which a passing driver honked or whistled at me. Why do people do this? Women don't find this flattering or enjoyable, nor do most of us look at it as being complementary. That night I was dressed in a skirt, and I suppose some people would have told me that I shouldn't dress like that if I don't want that kind of attention. Well, ever since I was 13 I've received that kind of attention from passing motorists, and there have been many times when I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. I also know women my age who have had similar experiences.

And sadly, it can sometimes go much farther than a honk or whistle. Sexual assaults occur everyday, and a vast number of them go unreported. There are many reasons for this, and one of them stems from the mentality of blaming the victim. The victim feels a sense of guilt and feels that there is something that could have been done differently to make it not happen.

Ultimately, the victim feels like they are at fault.

I speak from personal experience. One night I fell asleep in the bed of someone who I thought was a trusted friend at a fraternity party. Later that night I awoke to this supposed friend fondling me and attempting to undress me. I was lucky ? I woke up. But I still felt guilty and confused. I hadn't been dressed in anything provocative, but I'm a firm believer that even if I had been naked, no one has any right to touch me without my permission. It took me time to come to that conclusion, but now I know it to be true.

So have a safe summer. Be careful, have fun and please do your part to end this harmful ignorance.

Gorbea, a columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at spicypepperpoet@aol.com.