I've dedicated a lot of my blog to arguing against the myths that persistently crop up whenever rape and sexual violence are discussed (again there's a wee category to the right for anyone wishing to read the wrath I have vomited upon these pages) but still the old favourites crop up with the alarming regularity of rent day.
From someone in a position of power last week I heard the words "she would be lucky to be raped", referring to a woman that person thought was ugly.
At first I stared in horror.
Then I silently seethed as all the implications of a statement I hoped I'd never hear came to mind - this woman had confided about her rape and not only did this man say that he didn't believe her, but that she would be lucky to be raped.
As if being raped is a badge of honour.
As if, as Hadley Freeman pointed out in the Guardian a couple of days later, rape is a compliment.
This sort of attitude not only grossly misunderstands the impact of rape upon victims, but makes all women complicit in the guilt of sexual violence. That woman was guilty of being too ugly even for a rapist to desire her, just as those who do fall prey to rapists are guilty in being pretty enough to be raped. Just as the old favourites - she was wearing a short skirt/her cleavage was visible/her ankles were showing/she had been drinking/she flirted/we dated/she married me - are wheeled out repeatedly as excuses, the guilt of rape never lies with the rapist - us women are eternally tempting and teasing and deserve it.
As for the Delroy Grant story which elicited the above story, I can add nothing to the condemnation which has already been given, other than to use this horrific example as another reason for which to condemn the dangerous drivel spouted by Mr Palmer as documented here.
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