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From: jon@boulder.UUCP (Jonathan Corbet)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Provocative clothing
Message-ID: <369@boulder.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-May-85 21:56:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: boulder.369
Posted: Thu May 23 21:56:58 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 25-May-85 09:26:24 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: National Center for Atmospheric Research
Lines: 30


>                        ... suggests an analogy between a person walking
>around in a bad neighbourhood with $100 bills hanging out of his pockets,
>and a women wearing "suggestive" clothing. Ross, you just don't get it, do
>you? For the sake of argument, suppose I concede that I am partly at fault
>for getting robbed. In this case, the purpose of the robbery was to get
>my money. Rape is nothing like this. A woman is not raped because the man
>was so horny he couldn't stand it; a woman is raped BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN.

	Ahh, but rape is a crime of anger against women.  I don't know for
sure, but I suspect that clothing meant to show off a person's female nature
would tend to aggravate the sort of anger that must already be present in a
person predisposed to rape.  It seems to me that a woman really does increase
her chances of being raped by dressing "provocatively."  Please note that I do
not think that the apparel of the victim is any sort of justification for any
crime, whether (s)he be wrapped up like a mummy, or naked.

	Now, women (understandably) get upset when told that they effectively
can not dress in a certain way without inviting trouble.  Yes, I agree, it's
unfair.  However, "unfair" is almost a definition of "crime."  I think it's
unfair that I can't pin $100 bills to my shirt and walk around all night.
Nobody yet has figured out how to deal effective with crime; I certainly can
not claim to have any answers.  Such is life, and we have to live with it.

jon

-- 
Jonathan Corbet
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Field Observing Facility
{seismo|hplabs}!hao!boulder!jon		(Thanks to CU CS department)