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Dress
Dressing up
This is a true story, i used to live in scotland, while shopping for my new son to be (he's now 8), it was about 3 weeks from the start of the new school year.
Now i remember when i was at school, girls skirts had to be ankle length, what was on sale, and being brought by pairents were skirts no longar than 10-15 inches!!!
I agree that people should wear what ever they like, but surly there should be some common sence to what is being worn. 10 inch shirts with no underware........common sence should say thats a bad idea.
Author: Gary, Male, UK
Date: 29/06/2010
Replies to this post
I'm sorry, but not only is your supposition ridiculous, it's also extremely ill informed. By eluding to the "fact" that schoolgirls may be attracting unwanted attention by the way they dress not only reinforces the myth of "stranger danger" (the majority of rapes and sexual assaults are carried out by someone known to the victim, in this case I'd be inclined to say that regardless of what a schoolgirl is wearing, the likely perpetrator(s) will carry on unswayed by this), but you are also creating excuses whereby CHILDREN are partly culpable for being raped ("surely there should be some common sense"). Are you honestly trying to say that a schoolgirl who is raped is partly responsible on account of her dress? Or perhaps it is her parents who are responsible for allowing her to dress as such? Wrong. The only person responsible is the man that raped her. In all circumstances.
Women and girls have the right to wear what they want without "asking for it". If that means that schoolgirls want to follow fashion, be like their friends and wear short skirts, then so be it. That should be the beginning and end of the discussion. To say that children should exercise common sense in their SCHOOL UNIFORMS to avoid being raped, not only squarely blames women and girls for the perpetration of this awful crime (and lets rapists off the hook), but it also indoctrinate girls into a culture of fear from an early age, where society determines that their freedoms must be curtailed because men simply can't "control themselves".
Author: Dawn, Female, Glasgow
Date: 30/06/2010
'Common sense' is acknowledging that no man has ever died or indeed come to any harm from an erection which hasn't culminated in orgasm. To suggest how a woman or a child dresses is in any way responsible for rape is nonsense. You, as a man, may not be able to 'control' what arouses you, what you do with that arousal, however, is completely within your control. Are you suggesting that women and school children who wear long skirts are not sexually assaulted? Are you suggesting that rape is the result of supremely powerful women and children who manage to extract sexual arousal from poor wee powerless men who then have no choice but to rape? Rape is an act of violence. Common sense.
Author: Cath, Female, Glasgow
Date: 03/07/2010
Have your say
Natasha, Female from Glasgow“Rape seems to be the only crime where it's seen as ok to put the victim on trial.”
Joss, Female from Connecticut“Short skirts don't cause rape. Rapists cause rape”
Helzo, Female from Renfrewshire“About time something like this was shown on TV. Hopefully it will make everyone realise there cannot be any excuse for rape - EVER.”