I “Stumbled” on the Los Angeles Commission on Assault Against Women posters last week and was blow away with how great they were! Thanks for profiling them!

Yes, the posters are amazing.

Great posters and oh so true. No one deserves to get raped and it has nothing to do with what someone’s wearing which I always find ridiculous. People just have strange views on some subjects. Hopefully these posters will help changes peoples minds about someone asking for it because as far as I know no one is asking for it.

i agree these posters are very good. no one asks to be raped. the posters seem to put out the message it’s not acceptable no matter what and that’s great.

I think one of the reasons people “blame” the victim is fear - if we can identify what “she did wrong” and it is behavior that we ourselves don’t do then we can reassure ourselves that we are safe and it won’t happen to us or our daughters, sisters or mothers. It gives us back our reassuring illusion of control.

The point is that rape is about violence and domination. If it were only about how women dressed and where they hung out, then only attractive women in dangerous surroundings would get raped.

If that were the case, then women really would have the power to stop rape - so I guess it’s too bad it isn’t true afterall.

@ Barbara I surely hope these posters help people stop and think.

@Sarah Maybe other states will start having posters similar to these

@Liz That’s a great point. I never thought of it that way but it makes sense because fear can cause irrationality in many situations.

I have a theory: In general conversation about crime and law, rape is held up there with murder as one of the Worst Crimes Ever. There’s a perception of a rapist as a lecherous psychopath lurking in the shadows, dragging women into dark alleys. In fact, “regular guys” rape all the time. Jocks and frat boys actually have some of the highest rates of sexual violence. If they can rationalize it by saying the victim invited it by dressing skimpily, flirting, or by drinking too much, the men who rape them can claim they’re not rapists. They can even claim she was lying.
“I mean she wore a miniskirt to a frat party and passed out after too many tequila shooters. That’s not rape. That’s just her being a careless slut and boys being boys. She’s only pressing charges because she feels guilty about her indiscretions. The 250lb football player is the ‘real victim’ because his life could be ruined by a rape charge.” It’s just too much to perceive the all-American boy next door as the oogly-boogly rapist monster, but he’s as likely to be that guy as anyone.
Hell people rape children and get away with it all the time. There have been recent cases in Australia and in Dubai of courts ruling that 10 year old girls consented to “sex” with multiple “partners” - as if that’s even possible.

The thing that always confuses me about the victim being blamed is that the whole point of rape alligations is that the sex isn’t wanted. That shouldn’t even be linked with clothes, the woman making the rape alligations is saying that she said no and that’s to do with emotions and mentality, not what she’s wearing.
Men wear exactly what they want, when they want and no one blinks an eyelid; it’s not assumed that because they are topless in the summer that they want sex. So why do women get judged by what they wear? If they’re hot then it makes sense to be scantily clad.

But women’s attitudes need to change, too.

Obviously it’s a girl’s right to be where she wants and dress how she wants, but when you mentioned “why was she at that place where these things happen,” you brought up a great point.

I have a roomie that runs around and parties, gets tore up, with men she barely knows, in places she’s never been, without telling anyone where she is.

Does she deserve to be raped? Absolutely not. But if it happens, I wouldn’t be surprised.

No, means no, guys. But because some of them don’t get it, women still need to be careful about where they go and who they party with. I wish someone would epmhasize that.