neverwhere

Rape isn’t a ‘natural hazard’ like a cliff edge that women must be careful to avoid when drunk - it is a willful act of violence perpetrated by another human being and the responsibility lies with the perpetrator not the victim. Drinking alcohol is not illegal or wrong. Perpetrators are in control of their actions. A woman is never responsible for a man raping her. But society’s morals and logic currently display a yogic ability to bend over backwards to accommodate, accept, and normalize the reality of violence against women. Studies show that people who display high levels of sexism are more likely to accept the idea that women can be to blame when a man rapes them. This propensity to blame victims and often to absolve the perpetrators allows the cultures that breed sexist violence to go unchallenged. Victim-blaming must also end for the real cause of sexist violence—gender inequality—to come into full view.