Kayli Lees

Sequence II

Beware! Your Clothes May Rape You

When you are out on a Saturday night and you see a woman out with her friends while
wearing a fun, short dress, does it mean that she wants to be attacked and sexually assaulted?
Unfortunately, in todays society, there is a lot of misconception and ignorance about how bad
rape really is. Why is rape justifiable now with todays authority system and judicial courts?
Rape isnt something you can take back and it can cause a lot of emotional and mental damage to
a victim, not just with the act, but even after with the logic of the modern day justice system
when handling rape. There are more and more cases now where the rapists walk, all because of
excuses like If you put a steak in front of a dog, what do you expect? This saying is just a
gateway to freedom for a rapist and wont help us as women fight the growing problem.
The subject about rape is touchy and in most cases hard to discuss for women, and even
men. In some cases its hard because the event was so damaging to a person that they try to
forget it by not talking about it the rest of their lives. They live everyday with the memory of
being personally invaded in a way that was unwanted and forceful. There are many cases where
rape was reported but justified because of how a women is clothed, leaving the victims blaming
themselves and the rapist walking. Does it seem right to allow someone who raped someone the
freedom to roam the streets just because of what the victim was wearing? Is it going to justify the
crime in the future if the criminal strikes another prey? Most would say no, but because of loop
holes and excuses, some cases differ from the rest. Allowing a rapist to walk, after a woman built
up the courage to speak out, because of what she was wearing is almost like society as a whole is

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Sequence II

mocking her. By definition, rape is having sex with someone without consent, meaning the act
should be viewed equally as awful for every case.

One reason why rape has become so normalized in mainstream is because of the play of
words people use and how authority figures handle rape cases. Did you know, one of the first
questions that a rape victim is asked is what she was wearing? As a woman, I dont put on
clothes and think to myself wow I look good enough to be raped today, or if Im not dressed up,
I dont assume Im too ugly to get raped. A person should be allowed to wear what they like and
not have to worry about being too attractive and put themselves at risk to get raped. By bringing
into consideration what someone was wearing during their attack, the victims begin to think
more about how it was their fault that they were attacked instead of it being the attackers fault.
The victim starts to feel guilty, they decide not to press charges, and they soon believe that they
were raped solely on the fact that they were dressed the way they were. This also allows more
rapist to feel more empowered, and that they wont get into trouble for targeting someone
because of their outfit.

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Sequence II

Not only does making an excuse for rape cause problems for women in society, it causes
problems for women in the work place, and women in school. Blaming some rape cases on how
someone presented themselves started even more problems with things like power and gave
more leniency to masculinity and its drive for sex. It also causes problems for men who dont
take part in heinous acts of rape by labeling them as predators, even when they have no
intentions to harm someone. Issues with power are seen in the work place when an act of sexual
assault occur because society is made to believe that as a women, you are not as powerful as
men. In the work place, rape cases have been ignored because the word of the rapist was stronger
than the victim. In a lot of cases, the victim is not believed. In a school situation, girls have more
of a strict dress code. Why? Girls are told that what they wear can distract the male population.
Does this mean when a girl wears leggings, they are being watched by the boys like she is a juicy
piece of meat? Hearing this doesnt make the atmosphere seem safe, and it also targets the boys,
making them look like a pack of wild animals. Blaming anything other than the rapist for a rape
causes confusion, pain, and allows the guilty to walk while the victims are forced to live on with
the memory and the lack of justice.

Normalizing rape culture, and making excuses for the practice of it has troubled many in
modern day America and around the world. There are now ways out of the consequences for the
predators and less of a chance for justice for the victim. Rape culture today has also set another
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standard of inequality among gender and also causes more labeling between males and females.
Rape and sexual assault should never be justified because of clothing and should be handled
equally among cases. Basing an act of rape off of what someone is wearing doesnt do any
justice and allows the crime to be excused and the criminal to walk free. Its time to end rape and
help the victims of it grow and learn to understand that it is not, and never will be, their fault.

Kayli Lees
Sequence II

Citations
http://socialistworker.org/2013/01/07/victim-blaming-system-excuses-rape

https://thefeministfactor.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/rape-culture-and-victim-blaming/

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/10/2765271/rape-culture-social-media/

http://www.political-humor.org/if-you-blame-the-rape-victim-because-her-clothes-wereprovocative.shtml