“This was a preventable crime. Students have to lock their doors and protect themselves by staying in groups.”
That was what Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant John Hedgecock told The Hoya when asked about the sexual assault in Burleith on Aug. 29. Three days later, the Voice learned that the victim had locked her door—with a dead bolt. The attacker had broken into the victim’s home by removing her air conditioning unit and climbing through her window. Then he raped her while she was sleeping.
Students were disgusted with Hedgecock’s condescending and irrelevant advice. What could women possibly do to prevent this particular kind of crime? Refuse to live anywhere without central air conditioning? Sleep in groups? Hire armed guards?
While Hedgecock’s words were particularly jarring, our society routinely blames sexual assault victims. We question victims who were intoxicated at the time of their assault. We question victims who were wearing “slutty” clothing. We question victims who went somewhere alone with their attackers.
Rape is when one person makes the conscious choice to have sex with another independent person without their consent. “Implied consent”—the kind of “consent” that some claim a woman implies by going on a date, going back to a guy’s place after a party, getting drunk or wearing scanty clothing, is not consent. Consenting to one sexual act does not mean consenting to all sexual acts at all times under all circumstances.
It’s generally good advice to tell people of both sexes to remain aware of their surroundings and never drink enough to lose control. But young women deserve to have the same freedoms and securities as their male counterparts. To say women must make specific choices to “avoid getting raped” removes the responsibility from the person with whom it belongs, the rapist.
Blaming the victim is, in part, a defense mechanism. We would rather not believe that we, our friends, or our sisters, could ever be victims of sexual assault. When Hedgecock dispenses useless advice like, “Don’t make it easy … When you have house parties, don’t leave the doors open all night long,” it’s almost comforting. We’d rather believe that as long as we never get too drunk, never walk alone at night in sketchy areas, never go home with a creepy stranger, and always remember to lock our doors, we could never be victims of sexual assault ourselves.
In fact, one in four women will be a victim of attempted or actual sexual assault at some point in her life. Most of these women will be attacked by someone they know and trust. Wives, “good” girls, your mother, your friend, and your sister could all be victims. While I’m focusing on male-on-female assaults because society places a lot of blame on gendered women, there are also male and transgender sexual assault victims who are largely marginalized and silenced.
Victim blaming also has its roots in sexism—against men as well as women. As anyone who’s been to high school can attest, young men are hormone-driven. But when we write off predatory behavior as “boys will be boys” antics, we sell men short. Young men can be just as respectful and responsible as young women. Treating men as insatiable animals only insults the majority of men who have respect for women’s basic human dignity, while forgiving the few who choose to treat women as objects.
I’ve heard many men express concern that they could have a night of what they thought was great consensual sex, only to wake up the next morning and find that the girl thinks she’s been raped. However, study after study that interviews men about their sexual experiences has found that only a very few date rape claims follow this narrative.
Instead, multiple studies have found that when asked questions like, “Have you ever had sexual intercourse with an adult when they didn’t want to?” a few men will admit they have—multiple times. One study found that eight percent of responders were responsible for 95 percent of the sample’s rapes or attempted rapes. Only about 30 percent of the men admitted to using any kind of force, and none admitted to assaulting strangers. Instead, these undetected repeat offenders purposely target women they consider vulnerable, such as acquaintances and women who are already intoxicated. These are victims who probably wouldn’t report they’ve been assaulted, or whose accounts would be challenged should they decide to report the crime.
When we make jokes about “The Cuddler” or suggest that girls who wear “slutty” clothing should expect sexual assault, we are telling any rapists or would-be rapists in our midst that we don’t take these crimes seriously. When we imply that victims are responsible for preventing their own assaults, we give perpetrators the green light to keep assaulting. When we blame victims, we indicate to perpetrators how they can assault without ever facing blame. We show them how to commit crimes that will probably never be reported or prosecuted.
Hedgecock’s words were a wake-up call for our community. We have a collective responsibility to publicly condemn sexual assault in all its forms. As a campus, we need to demonstrate through our day-to-day words and actions that we reject victim blaming. That would provide greater protection against sexual assault than any deadbolt ever could.
