Why is rape the only crime where there is a tendency to blame victim?

I WISH to make a few points in response to Micheál Ó Fearghail (Letters, April 11) and what he sees as the contributory negligence of women who risk being raped by “placing themselves in vulnerable situations, while expecting all males to accept a ‘no’ in each and every situation”.

In relation to no other crime is there such a tendency to apportion some or all of the blame to the victim.

Women should be able to expect men to accept ‘no’ in all situations without fear of being considered negligent because forcing intercourse is rape whatever the circumstances, whether violent or insidious, by a complete stranger or an acquaintance.

To say women are negligent by showing skin or being alone or drinking alcohol, and that men cannot be “blamed” for taking advantage of this, is to give men licence to do and take illegally what they want without consequence. A car-owner is not negligent for keeping the car looking well or leaving it unattended. If that property is stolen, it is still theft.

It does not matter how inviting it looked, how easy it was to steal or how much the thief wanted it, the thief is nonetheless culpable.

The car-owner has a right to expect the theft to be punished without aspersions cast on his or her character — just as women have a right for the crime of rape to be punished without blame or denigration.

Mr Ó Fearghail also says women should be aware of the reality that not all men are going to follow the rules. He’s right — but women should be protected against this minority rather than vilified when those men don’t follow the rules.

The seriousness of the crime is not lessened by whether or not it is likely to happen.

Wearing certain clothing should be a matter of sartorial taste, and not a moral issue. To walk anywhere one wants day or night without fear of attack should be an exercise of one’s right to freedom and bodily integrity and to choose to get drunk should not be interpreted as an invitation to assault.

Whatever the circumstances, we must never lose sight of the clear difference between perpetrator and victim, and that rape is a very personal violation of a physical, mental and, of course, sexual nature.

This our society must not tolerate.

Michelle Austin

New Mills

Brownsmills

Kinsale

Co Cork