I don't usually talk about anything remotely political on my blog, because that's not really what I want this to become, but I feel it is justified following recent events in Irish parliament which involved showing a lacy thong to justify an alleged rape victim's consent.
A couple of months back I had a particularly eye-opening conversation with a male colleague. It started with a discussion about the following quote:
It shocked me that he agreed with the premise behind the quote... Saddening that someone under the age of 30 could hold such an archaic view that the amount of respect a woman deserves is based on the clothing she wears.
And guess what, buddy?
That's rape culture.
Over the past few days/week much of the UK population has been disgusted by a rape case in Ireland where a young girl's consent has been attributed to the underwear she had on.
I cannot begin to go into the ludicrous injustice of using the garments a woman is wearing UNDER her clothes to justify rape.
But how can we expect to correct the absurd notion that the level of respect a woman deserves is based on her clothing, when these values are somehow still ingrained within our society and account for a large part of our nurture and upbringing?
It struck me this weekend that it is even something internally rooted in my own sub conscience. When choosing a top to wear out on Saturday night I genuinely questioned whether the top I wanted to wear showed too much cleavage and whether I should change into a different one to prevent unwelcomed looks and comments from anyone in a club. But surely the main thing I should be considering is whether or not it's weather appropriate in these sub-zero temperatures that seem to have come about over night.
Not only this but I was perturbed to hear that a friend often chose not to wear a skirt on some nights when she may have to walk home alone.
Unfortunately our night-clubbing subculture has created a generation of handsy people and the lines of what physical behaviour is and isn't appropriate have become distorted.
In 2018 (nearly 2019), how are we still not at a point where instead of telling women what not to wear, to prevent her being raped, we teach boys NOT to rape and how to respect women irrespective of how short her skirt is or what top she chooses to wear.
A couple of months back I had a particularly eye-opening conversation with a male colleague. It started with a discussion about the following quote:
"Ladies - Please dress how you would like to be approached and talked to. Don't dress like a hoe and expect to be treated like a queen."
It shocked me that he agreed with the premise behind the quote... Saddening that someone under the age of 30 could hold such an archaic view that the amount of respect a woman deserves is based on the clothing she wears.
And guess what, buddy?
That's rape culture.
Over the past few days/week much of the UK population has been disgusted by a rape case in Ireland where a young girl's consent has been attributed to the underwear she had on.
I cannot begin to go into the ludicrous injustice of using the garments a woman is wearing UNDER her clothes to justify rape.
But how can we expect to correct the absurd notion that the level of respect a woman deserves is based on her clothing, when these values are somehow still ingrained within our society and account for a large part of our nurture and upbringing?
It struck me this weekend that it is even something internally rooted in my own sub conscience. When choosing a top to wear out on Saturday night I genuinely questioned whether the top I wanted to wear showed too much cleavage and whether I should change into a different one to prevent unwelcomed looks and comments from anyone in a club. But surely the main thing I should be considering is whether or not it's weather appropriate in these sub-zero temperatures that seem to have come about over night.
Not only this but I was perturbed to hear that a friend often chose not to wear a skirt on some nights when she may have to walk home alone.
Unfortunately our night-clubbing subculture has created a generation of handsy people and the lines of what physical behaviour is and isn't appropriate have become distorted.
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