I loved this story from Canada. A police officer was giving crime prevention advice to a group of young women at a college in Toronto. The poor naive officer at one point said that he shouldn't really say it but if you want to avoid sexual assault then don't dress like a slut.
These comments have caused outrage amongst women's rape support groups and the feminist movement as a whole and 'slut' marches have been taking place all over the world. Their message is that women should be allowed to dress and express themselves however they like but this is not an invitation to men to rape or sexually harass women. The suggestion by the officer is that women are perpetrators rather than victims.
I have every sympathy with the protesters view on these comments. In an ideal world women might be able to walk down the street wearing next to nothing and no man would so much as offer a wolf whistle. Likewise in an ideal world you should be able to walk down the road waving around a grand in cash and no one should think about robbing you. The trouble is that this Utopian state does not exist yet and so it probably is best not to dress like a slut or wave large wads of cash around.
This naive officer made the mistake of of giving some practical but non PC advice. He has been discliplined for it and hopefully will learn not to offer honest advice again.
Are We There Yet?
6 years ago