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Saturday, October 01, 2011

Saudi Arabia, NY 11215
Posted by Jill | 12:42 PM
First we have a police officer spraying pepper spray at female protesters. Now it seems that in Brooklyn, they're stopping women in the street and telling them to cover up:
In response to a string of at least 10 unsolved sexual assaults in Brooklyn, New York police are reportedly stopping women on the street who are wearing clothing they say is revealing and advising them to cover up if they don’t want to be raped. The Wall Street Journal reports on the disturbing message police officers are allegedly spreading:

Lauren, a South Slope resident, was walking home three blocks from the gym on Monday when she was stopped. The 25-year-old, who did not want her last name to be used, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when she claims a police officer asked if she would stop and talk to him. He also stopped two other women wearing dresses. [...]

“He pointed at my outfit and said, ‘Don’t you think your shorts are a little short?‘” she recalled. “He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin.”

He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had “easy access,” said Lauren. She said the officer explained that “you’re exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting.”



Aside from the sense I have that this is more about the police officers' view of women than it is about keeping them safe, it also shows a profound ignorance of what rape is. It's an act of aggression that takes the form of a sexual attack. It is not an act of uncontrollable lust. If it were, we wouldn't hear about 80-year-old women getting raped in their apartments.

How can any woman who is assaulted in South Slope have any hope of being treated in good faith by the police, when the law acts like mullahs on the streets of Saudi Arabia?

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4 Comments:
Anonymous The Wifely Person said...
okay..i have a question. I am the mother of sons (now adult), not daughters, and i have trouble understanding some of the clothing i see on young girls as well as young women. When did what we wear stop being a reflection of who we are and how we want to be treated?

I would love to read comments on this. This is a serious question, and not meant to be in any way judgmental. I'm not condoning the modesty police in Brooklyn or here in Minnesota. I'm just confused.

I know what i think is over the top is probably not what the rest of the world thinks, but I am really curious about this shift in perception.
10/1/11, 11:16 PM  
Anonymous Kana W said...
And to add insult to injury, the comments on MSNBC are 80% on the side of the police.

Women should cover up, they say. The police are just trying to stop the women from being hurt they say.

Baloney. Burkas for all is what we're headed for. After all, if men are such weak creatures that the sight of a woman's knee is going to make them lose all control of themselves then we're in really deep trouble.

Sheesh. And they say women's hormones make them incapable of running things fairly. Sad sad sad.
10/1/11, 11:58 PM  
Blogger jurassicpork said...
Funny how when right wingers scream about Sharia Law taking hold in this country, they never mention the Taliban tactics of the NYPD and other organizations.
10/2/11, 1:58 PM  
Blogger Ahab said...
Why doesn't this officer focus more on the perpetrators' behavior? Such a comment isn't all that far from victim blaming.
10/6/11, 9:37 PM  
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