Women should dress modestly or expect to ‘entice a rapist’ – claims Chrissie Hynde

fro9etb8j5qsl2 · 30-08-2015 05:33PM #1

From today's Telegraph:

Women who walk around drunk and provocatively dressed should expect to be sexually assaulted, Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of the Pretenders, has suggested
The former chart topper claimed in a Sunday newspaper interview that scantily clad women were likely to “entice a rapist” and that it is their “fault” if they are attacked.

She discloses in a new memoir how she was abducted and sexually assaulted by a motorcycle gang in Ohio in the early 1970s – but concludes it was “all my doing” because of the way she was dressed and the fact that she was under the influence of drugs.
She also claimed that pop stars who call themselves feminists but use their sex appeal to sell records were effectively just “prostitutes”.

Charities said her remarks highlighted how victims of sexual assault wrongly blame themselves for their ordeals.
Her comments came in an interview with The Sunday Times, which published extracts from her autobiography entitled “Reckless”.
The book details an incident when she was 21 when she was picked up by a motorcycle gang who promised to take her to a party but instead took her to an empty house and sexually assaulted her.

But she said: “If I'm walking around in my underwear and I'm drunk? Who else's fault can it be? – Er, the guy who attacks you?
“Oh, come on! That's just silly.
“If I'm walking around and I'm very modestly dressed and I'm keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I'd say that's his fault.
“But if I'm being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who's already unhinged — don't do that.”

She added: “You know, if you don't want to entice a rapist, don't wear high heels so you can't run from him. If you're wearing something that says 'Come and ---- me', you'd better be good on your feet… I don't think I'm saying anything controversial am I?"

She went on to argue that many women who describe themselves as feminists were anything but in practice.
Asked whom she meant, she said: “Women who sell what their product is by using sex – that's prostitution.
“A pop star who's walking around, parading themselves as a porn star and saying they're feminists.
“They're prostitutes.
“I'm not making a value judgment on prostitutes, but just say what you are.”

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11833539/Women-should-dress-modesty-or-expect-to-entice-a-rapist-claims-singer-Chrissie-Hynde.html

Her comments are the last in a long line of bullshít from people in the public eye who are more willing to blame the victims of these crimes than the predators who commit them. Pretty unbelievable that she herself was assaulted in her youth and still holds these ridiculous views. It's so irresponsible and ignorant of her to spout crap like this :mad:

Penny Tration · 30-08-2015 05:35PM

Typical scummy victim blaming.

However, I can't help but think she's painting men in a bad light too. If you go out dressed provocatively, chances are you'll be raped? Very doubtful considering that most victims of rape know their rapist, but it also just says that men are incapable of controlling their sexual urges.

People like her are the reason not enough women report their rape.

darkpagandeath · 30-08-2015 05:38PM

Fail.

ceadaoin. · 30-08-2015 05:38PM

Zion Savory Climber wrote: »

From today's Telegraph:

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11833539/Women-should-dress-modesty-or-expect-to-entice-a-rapist-claims-singer-Chrissie-Hynde.html

Her comments are the last in a long line of bullshít from people in the public eye who are more willing to blame the victims of these crimes than the predators who commit them. Pretty unbelievable that she herself was assaulted in her youth and still holds these ridiculous views. It's so irresponsible and ignorant of her to spout crap like this :mad:

It's fairly common for victims to blame themselves and she is obviously projecting those feelings onto others. Sounds like she needs counselling to work through these issues and accept that it wasn't her fault that it happened to her. Until then she should shut up and not try to make other victims feel even worse by spouting such crap!

fro9etb8j5qsl2 · 30-08-2015 05:46PM

That was my first thought Ceadaoin, and if this is the case then it's very sad that she has carried this guilt around for so long. But like you said, she should keep her trap shut about it until she has learned to accept and deal with what happened to her.

darkpagandeath · 30-08-2015 05:48PM

TBH this sounds like something written in saudi arabia

QuinDixie · 30-08-2015 05:48PM

I doubt her rape story, new memoir, needs some cash, make controversial points about rape and justify them with a personal story that sounds made up. Sounds like a scene from any 1970s Clint Eastwood film.

NachoBusiness · 30-08-2015 05:48PM

Don't get her wrong.

Mr_Muffin · 30-08-2015 05:50PM

Ah another nobody making outrageous statements just to get attention.

One eyed Jack · 30-08-2015 06:00PM

Zion Savory Climber wrote: »

From today's Telegraph:

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11833539/Women-should-dress-modesty-or-expect-to-entice-a-rapist-claims-singer-Chrissie-Hynde.html

Her comments are the last in a long line of bullshít from people in the public eye who are more willing to blame the victims of these crimes than the predators who commit them. Pretty unbelievable that she herself was assaulted in her youth and still holds these ridiculous views.It's so irresponsible and ignorant of her to spout crap like this :mad:

Unfortunately it's not all that unbelievable at all that someone who has experienced sexual assault would hold those views. They're no different from generally held perceptions among the wider public really.

It's irresponsible, and of course it's ignorant, but it's the latest in this new thing of "people are entitled to create their own narrative" nonsense - think Lena Dunham and her sister. What they're saying really isn't actually all that controversial. It's the fact that they're saying it at all is what's controversial, given their position in the public eye.

I don't think I'm saying anything controversial am I?

Dumb, attention-seeking rhetorical question, is dumb.

biko · 30-08-2015 06:15PM

How do I know revealing clothes don't cause rapes?

Women in Afghanistan are still raped.

frostyjacks · 30-08-2015 06:22PM

I think the point she's making is that sometimes women have to look at their own actions. In her case it was wilfully going away with a biker gang that she knew liked to rape women.

ancapailldorcha · 30-08-2015 06:25PM

While I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to take precautions to protect themselves, rape is never the victim's fault. Never. I'm not surprised to see the Telegraph spouting guff like this to be honest. It's just the Daily Mail with bigger words.

Mint Aero · 30-08-2015 06:26PM

Oh hell no, oh no she di'ant. Wait, wait...who the f*ck is Chrissie Hynde? and why should I care that she exists let alone what she said about something?

Dirty Dingus McGee · 30-08-2015 06:29PM

Mint Aero wrote: »

Oh hell no, oh no she di'ant. Wait, wait...who the f*ck is Chrissie Hynde? and why should I care that she exists let alone what she said about something?

Lead singer/songwriter from the Pretenders who were a top notch band.

Cold War Kid · 30-08-2015 06:36PM

I gotta say I think she's right to view it as stupid and irresponsible for anyone to get completely wasted and wander off by themselves at night (did it myself several times when younger and I'm just relieved nothing happened to me, because it could have).

Basically, limit your vulnerability as much as you can - this applies to absolutely any situation.

If you are raped (or assaulted or mugged) though, the attacker is the one to blame - because they have a choice, they don't *have* to attack anyone, just because the opportunity has arisen. They can control themselves.

Using terms like "should expect", "fault", "entice rapists" is just being an ass. If she had said it's stupid and irresponsible, that would be fairer - but that's not attention-grabbing I guess.

Also, when people are young and silly, they do stupid things - it's part of life and learning, it doesn't make them deserve to be attacked.

Nodin · 30-08-2015 06:55PM

Zion Savory Climber wrote: »

From today's Telegraph:

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11833539/Women-should-dress-modesty-or-expect-to-entice-a-rapist-claims-singer-Chrissie-Hynde.html

Her comments are the last in a long line of bullshít from people in the public eye who are more willing to blame the victims of these crimes than the predators who commit them. Pretty unbelievable that she herself was assaulted in her youth and still holds these ridiculous views. It's so irresponsible and ignorant of her to spout crap like this :mad:

This is a woman who once, many years ago, give an interview in which she lamented women taking contraception at great length. She then went on to talk about how many abortions she had. Now, from a purely objective perspective, its usually generally considered better to take small medical precautions, to prevent having more invasive measures taken later on.....but this logic doesn't appear to have dawned on Ms Hynes.

You get some small flavour of it here, from 1994
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interview--ol-blue-eyes-is-back-after-an-eightyear-gap--the-householder-years--the-pretenders-are-in-the-top-10-again-and-the-critics-good-books-geraldine-bedell-talks-to-chrissie-hynde-while-david-cavanagh-compares-the-new-album-with-the-old-ones-1432961.html

Tl;dr - she's always talked out of her arse, whether because she believed it, was half mad or bombed or was just out for attention.

wakka12 · 30-08-2015 06:57PM

People like her need to realise that rapists don't choose their victims because they think the girl looks sexy and they want to have sex with them. Its about power and domination not sexual attraction, they don't care if its a hot skinny blonde in a tight revealing dress or a fat sack of potatoes dressed in a bin bag, they'll rape whatever they think they can without getting caught.

Old Jakey · 30-08-2015 07:03PM

Don't fully agree with her, but I respect her for having the guts to say what she believes.

Cold War Kid · 30-08-2015 07:04PM

wakka12 wrote: »

People like her need to realise that rapists don't choose their victims because they think the girl looks sexy and they want to have sex with them. Its about power and domination not sexual attraction, they don't care if its a hot skinny blonde in a tight revealing dress or a fat sack of potatoes dressed in a bin bag, they'll rape whatever they think they can without getting caught.

I don't think that's entirely true unfortunately. It can be about sex, not always just about power and domination and control. It still doesn't make it the fault of the person who is raped though.

Old Jakey · 30-08-2015 07:06PM

wakka12 wrote: »

People like her need to realise that rapists don't choose their victims because they think the girl looks sexy and they want to have sex with them. Its about power and domination not sexual attraction, they don't care if its a hot skinny blonde in a tight revealing dress or a fat sack of potatoes dressed in a bin bag, they'll rape whatever they think they can without getting caught.

I believe its the opposite.

Cold War Kid · 30-08-2015 07:08PM

I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the thing of rape being about power/control/dominance is more of a phenomenon in war-torn countries and societies where woman are less than sh-t.

That's not to say it can't be about sex in such contexts either, or that it can never be about power/control/dominance/woman-hating in peaceful democratic societies.

Old Jakey · 30-08-2015 07:11PM

Cold War Kid wrote: »

I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the thing of rape being about power/control/dominance is more of a phenomenon in war-torn countries and societies where woman are less than sh-t.

That's not to say it can't be about sex in such contexts either, or that it can never be about power/control/dominance/woman-hating in peaceful democratic societies.

I would agree with that. In the first world countires most women are raped by people they know. I'd say the motives in these cases is lust and desire. Not to say there aren't psychopaths out there who don't get off on the power aspect.

NachoBusiness · 30-08-2015 07:13PM

Old Jakey wrote: »

I would agree with that. In the first world countires most women are raped by people they know. I'd say the motives in these cases is lust and desire. Not to say there aren't psychopaths out there who don't get off on the power aspect.

Isn't that what they are saying.

Penny Tration · 30-08-2015 07:14PM

I'd imagine it's a bit of both.

For a lot of rapists, it IS about dominance and control, in that they find that kind of domination sexually arousing. So, yeah, they're getting their rocks off and it's sexual and about lust to them, but that lust comes about from arousal at the idea of raping the victim.

nokia69 · 30-08-2015 07:29PM

wakka12 wrote: »

People like her need to realise that rapists don't choose their victims because they think the girl looks sexy and they want to have sex with them. Its about power and domination not sexual attraction, they don't care if its a hot skinny blonde in a tight revealing dress or a fat sack of potatoes dressed in a bin bag, they'll rape whatever they think they can without getting caught.

people like you need to realise that this is not 100% true

there does tend to be a power and domination element to many rapes but most rapists are in fact sexually attracted to their victims

eviltwin · 30-08-2015 07:30PM

She's entitled to her opinion, I just wish the media wouldn't jump on these comments and print them. She's a nobody as far as I am concerned, her views carry no more weight than that of the random person on the street but vulnerable people and those close to them don't need to be reading her views in some newspaper.

zeffabelli · 30-08-2015 07:31PM

nokia69 wrote: »

people like you need to realise that this is not 100% true

there does tend to be a power and domination element to many rapes but most rapists are in fact sexually attracted to their victims

Common denominator is entitlement.

DoYouEvenLift · 30-08-2015 07:42PM

Firstly, just to clarify, I agree being raped is never the victims fault.

I just want to say, silly schemes where idiots try to 'teach all men not to rape' are as bad as comments like this being made. There is no reasoning with rapists. They are scumbags. Telling them, through means of addressing a collective group of people similar to them just in gender, is absolutely pointless. A rapist is going to attempt to commit the crime regardless. The best we can do is emphasise preventative and defensive measures and in the unfortunate cases where victims are raped, encourage reporting of the crime to the police as soon as possible to aid them in having the most likelihood of catching the criminal.

This is the society we live in. It is absolute naivety and delusion to think that simply requesting people to not commit crimes will prevent crimes being commited. Criminals are going to commit crimes, they have done in the past, they do today and they will do in the future.

meeeeh · 30-08-2015 07:53PM

eviltwin wrote: »

She's entitled to her opinion, I just wish the media wouldn't jump on these comments and print them. She's a nobody as far as I am concerned, her views carry no more weight than that of the random person on the street but vulnerable people and those close to them don't need to be reading her views in some newspaper.

Yes and I half suspect those comments were made because she has a book to sell. It's just sad that serious and painful people's experiences are used as a marketing tool.

30-08-2015 07:55PM

It's a slippy slope when you put the onus on a whole gender to avoid being raped. Then the accusation will inevitably wind up being about what she did wrong to get herself raped or put herself in a rapeable position.

Acquaintance rape is something that needs more discussion, since ambiguity seems to be a factor in some of these. The responsibility is currently on the male partner to hear the word yes, but the female party has no similar responsibility to use the word no. I believe this should change, and girls be more aware of their role in the giving of clear consent. No one should ever be raped because the situation was ambiguous, but I've no doubt it happens.

Other than that, the only way a woman can modify her behaviour to 100% avoid being raped is by living in, and never leaving, a fortress.

Women should dress modestly or expect to ‘entice a rapist’ – claims Chrissie Hynde

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