Why we have to stop asking sexual assault victims 'what were you wearing?'

Behind the exhibition "designed to challenge the cultural narrative around consent - identifying the circumstances and not identifying the person."

Does this look like justification for sexual assault to you? Pic: Indie Studios NYC

If you were robbed, would you expect to be asked what type of underwear you were wearing at the time of the incident? 

You would not because your clothing didn’t influence the crime. Yet survivors of rape and sexual assault say the question, “What were you wearing?” is asked of them. 

The question is seen as victim blaming by some advocates and forms part of the narrative that victims are somehow accountable for their assault. But with a bill going through the Oireachtas is there hope that change is coming?

Last summer Rise Now held a ‘What were you wearing?’ art exhibit at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. 

Amanda Nguyen, founder of Rise, at the WWYW Exhibit. The exhibit was meant to bring attention to the barriers to justice faced by global survivors of sexual violence and demonstrate the pervasiveness of sexual assault and the many different faces of survivors among us. Pic: Indie Studios NYC

The exhibit displayed 103 outfits worn by survivors of rape on the day they were assaulted. The exhibit is similar to the Not Consent exhibition which first opened in Dublin in 2018 before travelling Ireland, with its latest showing in Belfast last year.

Looking through photos of these exhibitions, and others internationally, I see everything from Communion dresses, swimming togs, jeans, pyjamas, skirts, running clothes, business wear, dresses, joggers, t-shirts and baseball caps. 

They are the regular articles of people’s lives. Nothing can be inferred from them. 

Their ordinariness destroys the myth that a clothing choice can result in violence. Fabric, no matter what it’s density, colour or elasticity cannot be held accountable for rape. A rapist decides to rape.

The Not Consent exhibition in Ireland. Pic: Ruth Maxwell

CHALLENGING THE NARRATIVE

Ruth Maxwell, Curator and Founder of the Not Consent exhibition says, “There’s a political side to the exhibition. It’s designed to challenge the cultural narrative around consent: identifying the circumstances and not identifying the person.” 

But what’s wrong with the question “What were you wearing”? 

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, an organisation with 32,000 police leaders in over 170 countries, produced a document guiding their members away from asking that exact question which they say “could be perceived as blaming the victim for the assault due to their attire, ie, that the suspect chose the victim because of what they were wearing. Explaining that gathering clothing, sheets, towels, is part of the evidence collection process removes the victim’s specific experience from the equation and instead focuses on the process.” 

Ruth Maxwell, Curator and Founder of the Not Consent exhibition

I spoke with Detective Sergeant David Connolly from the Sexual Crime Management Unit about the use of language during questioning.

He says the opening of Divisional Protective Specialist Units, nationwide, “have had massive benefit because it’s of the skill set members have built up specifically dealing with sexual offences. We have to balance both the victims and the suspect. But communication, in my experience, is so important. Victims go through enough and good communication is key.” 

Maxwell, who was attacked in 2016, explains, “It’s so easy to be put into that mindset that you’ve done something wrong because you are already so vulnerable. You are expecting to be protected, and protected as well from language. Language hurts and leaves its scars.” 

If the question can be understood to be about victim-blaming then what are we looking for as a society when we ask it? 

The “What Were You Wearing?” art exhibit at the United Nations. Pic: Indie Studios NYC

EXPLANATIONS AND JUDGEMENTS

In my opinion, we are seeking an explanation in their clothing choice for what happened to them. I think we do this because if we, as a society, cannot find an explanation in what they did wrong, a decision they made that led to this happening then we, the blameless general public, are suddenly vulnerable. If their assault was their fault then we are safe.

A 2019 survey conducted for The Independent (UK) found 55% of men and 41% of women believed that “the more revealing the clothes a woman wears, the more likely it is that she will be harassed or assaulted”. 

Yvonne Woods from Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, says the myth that clothing leads to violence “is one of the more pervasive rape myths out there and very damaging from a victim blaming perspective”. 

But even if societal judgements on women are widespread, surely we can expect better from the judicial process?

The “What Were You Wearing?” art exhibit at the United Nations. Pic: Indie Studios NYC

DEFLECTING FROM PERPETRATORS

Many remember the outrage that swept the nation in 2018 when a teenager's underwear was displayed in a Cork courtroom. Maxwell says “I think the focus on clothing within a trial is deflecting away from the perpetrator. And that's what it’s used for."  

Speaking openly about her experience of the judicial process following a violent attack she says, “I had done nothing wrong and I found myself having to prove I did nothing wrong. The whole way along. I’m at the stage now where I don’t have to prove anything. The system proved in the end, finally, that it wasn’t anything to do with me or anything I’d done.” 

In 2020, while Ruth was still in and out of court hearings connected to her attacker, the O’Malley Review was published. 

Its objective was “to identify areas in which the treatment of victims might be improved and their experience made less stressful without, at the same time, encroaching on the constitutionally protected rights of accused persons.” 

The new Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill now seeks to implement a number of recommendations from that Review. 

Things are moving and the Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny in December. According to the Department of Justice, the Minister is committed to advancing this legislation as a priority.

THE WILD WEST

Cliona Saidléar, Executive Director of Rape Crisis Network Ireland, says, “The courtrooms are like the wild west where anything can be used as a defense. They can throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at the case and in effect at the survivor. What we are doing with the legislation is putting manners on it, because the survivor has rights to dignity.” 

Speaking about the importance of the Not Consent exhibition Cliona says, “It was really impactful. I think it really makes the point in a very successful way around not blaming.” She says by pushing for legislative change they seek to reduce “the outrageous ways that we might, in our misogynistic culture, find to shame someone and to lay blame at them.” 

She goes on to say that while legislative changes are important, so too is a cultural shift, “the big game changer here is that the public won't buy it any more”. She explains that if society doesn’t accept an argument that seeks to blame the victim then a barrister for the defence won't use it. 

“A lot of change is about our culture where we say, actually she’s allowed to walk home on her own, actually she’s allowed to get drunk, she's allowed to wear red lipstick, she’s allowed to go back to a party.” She adds that the public outcry that surrounded the Belfast trial and the Cork case was significant. 

“The priorities for government are always overloaded so you are always fighting for space in that (legislative) calendar and absolutely the uproar made it clear that our legislation has fallen behind where the public were.” 

And there lies an opportunity for us all to make noise about dismantling rape myths that protect no-one except the perpetrator. When we no longer accept victim blaming then our blame and our outrage can find its rightful home at the feet of the perpetrators, the judicial system and the legislators who can create change.

• https://risenow.us/impact/what-were-you-wearing/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Iud500QBs
• If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, you can contact the Rape Crisis Centre 24-hour national freephone helpline on 1800 77 88 88 for confidential, free and non-judgmental support or by email at [e-mail].