By David Lee on September 22, 2009
"Don’t Assault Them": A different type of advice about sexual assault
This list of rape prevention tips is currently being widely distributed on feminist blogs and tweets. Colleen Jameson creatively interrupts the victim-blaming inherent in expecting rape prevention to be primarily expecting women to protect themselves. Instead she offers suggestions to men so they will not rape.
Bravo!
Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work! by Colleen Jameson
- Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.
- When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!
- If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!
- NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.
- If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!
- Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.
- USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.
- Always be honest with people! Don’t pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.
- Don’t forget: you can’t have sex with someone unless they are awake!
- Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone “on accident” you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.
And, ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you didn’t ask permission and then respect the answer the first time, you are committing a crime – no matter how “into it” others appear to be.
[…] we expect women to prevent themselves from “getting raped?” This risk-reduction approach was creatively challenged in the recent blog postings shifting common “safety hints” for women to not get abused, to focus instead on the […]