by Rhaisa Gaudiano
Time and time again people have been saying we should be responsible for our own actions; well, why can’t sex offenders? The fault sometimes are directed towards the victims, it has somehow became a stigma among every generations that it is sickening. Just simply imagining what the victims might’ve felt with continuous victim blaming makes my mood turn sour, it was never their fault, it will never be and it never is.
One should know how to tame their inner beast — their sexual desires to commit a felonious act. Saying that the victim’s clothes provoked and tempted them is a cowardly excuse to escape the judgment of society. They can never escape the judgment of law, yes, but the victim will suffer their claims of “tempting them because of the clothes, ” as such is the judgment of society. Imagine, a situation where you’re driven to a corner, you’ve been violated, and yet you can’t say a word because “you were wearing provocative clothes.” Isn’t that just way too cruel to the victims who have been violated and yet been continually blamed for the harm that has befall upon them? In the first place, clothes aren’t the determining factor for rape or sexual harassments. Why? The claim is from the art exhibit based on the stories of the students-survivors whom described their attire during their sexual assault, the stories have been collected by Jen Brockman and Dr. Mary Wyandt-Hiebert at the University of Arkansas in 2013.
Regardless of what a person wears it will never be the reason why they have been the target for sexual harassment, or worse, rape. The situation regarding about victim blaming is already sickening enough, but to the point of justifying the act by saying “it was due to their clothes”? That’s evil. Plainly evil. Clothes will never be the standards on how a person should be respected, just because one was wearing revealing clothes DOES NOT MEAN THEY’RE GIVING CONSENT. People have all the right to wear whatever they want to wear without the fear of being harassed. People should feel safe walking down the street without being catcalled. People should be happy with what they wear and should never be told off that they will be violated for it — that’s almost like saying they deserve it for wearing such attire. Society is already sickening; do us the favor of not being part of the toxicity.
Everyone should start accepting the fact that it is the perpetrator’s fault and there should be no debate regarding about it. You can wear whatever you want, your self-respect will not decrease just because of your clothes. Rape is Rape. A rapist is a rapist. A sexual-offender is a sexual-offender. There should be no debate regarding who’s at fault, because in the first you should control your sexual desires and not other people’s freedom. Clothes are not consent, they’re what you wear. It is time to put an end to the stigma and to stop invalidating the victims. The moment you justified the act, you’re no different from a sexual offender. Wear what you want to wear, while others need to learn how to control their perverted thoughts and desires.
Illustration by Mark Edrian Gonzalgo
The "What Were You Wearing?" Exhibit: https://www.forestry.oregonstate.edu/wwyw/homepage
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