Quote:
Originally Posted by Paperbackstash
You keep bringing up the fire alarm, but I'm still not seeing a strong connection. I know you are not victim blaming anyone who loses their house (or pets) in a fire because they do not have a working fire alarm, I never said or insinuated this. Having a fire alarm is a good, preventative measure for obvious reasons.
The issue is that with some of your posts, and the articles you are linking to on victims are off-base, however, since most victims of those crimes mentioned don't even happen in the circumstances the so-called experts keep warning people about. The tips on them not attracting attention to become a victim in the first place does fall under victim blaming with the way these articles are written.
What does some of the articles I quoted even mean? How does someone appear tougher than they are in order not to attract attention if they are walking the streets? And now wearing too many layers of clothing is a bad thing that may attract rapists, too? This is a change from the past where we were told too provocative of clothing was the attraction. What do you think women should wear to avoid an attack as a preventative measure?
I'm genuinely curious, not just debating here. Do you agree with all the tips the articles were giving as being effective?
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I keep comparing using fire alarms with tips on trying to avoid crime because I see them as very similar. In both situations, you are doing things to avoid bad things from happening.
Do I agree with all the tips? No. Different situations require different measures. There are likely tips that are accurate for New York City that have no real meaning outside of New York City. Tips on how to avoid the attention of street criminals looking for money(which most of these are) are very different that tips on avoiding crimes like date rape.
To a certain extent, people bring old baggage into this discussion. The whole women should avoid wearing provocative clothing is a issue in that respect because the point isn't that women should not wear provocative clothing, it's more that you want to avoid standing out in a crowd. That's as true for men as it is for women. I haven't heard someone actually use the term provocative clothing in a self defense talk. They might talk about specific things like high heel shoes (limits mobility, though spike heels make a pretty nice weapon) but the provocative clothes thing was much more of a cultural reference from earlier times than it is something that is used in the industry. I'm sure there are people who trot that out, because anything that draws attention can make a difference, but really, it's likely equally true that if you are on a college campus and you dress like like your great aunt, you would also stand out. Predators look for what stands out, that's as true for people as it is for wolves.