'Women & Girls' Religious Pamphlet Claims 'Ungodly' Dressed Women Provoke Rape

A particularly disturbing religious pamphlet titled 'Women & Girls' has been brought to light by the Bristol Herald Courier. Handed out in Bristol, Virginia, 'Women & Girls,' -- signed "anonymous" -- makes the argument that female victims of rape are responsible for the crime perpetrated on them because of the way they dress. "Even though nothing is showing, you're being ungodly," one recipient of the pamphlet was told. "You make men want to be sinful."

The pamphlet goes on to describe in detail the ways that rape victims are responsible for rape:

"You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed," it begins. "Have you thought about standing before the true and living God to be judged?"

"Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts a men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin," the leaflet states. "By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?"

This is not the first time this argument has been made -- a recent study found that more than half of the women surveyed believed that some rape victims should take responsibility for what happened -- but it is an exceptionally extreme example.

The sexual assault program director in Bristol said that confronting arguments like these are a regular part of her work:

"This idea that men don't have enough self control - and evidently they shouldn't have to - plays into all the old myths that we've tried for years to overcome: Rape happens to 2-year-olds and 92-year-olds, not just attractive young women. How about we hold the person doing the action accountable, whoever it is going against the will and consent of somebody else?.. Blaming victims is the way we who have not been victimized feel safer. If it's their fault then I'm safer because I wouldn't do that."

Read more details here.

Comments

[Peter-and-the-Wolf]

08:02 PM on 03/16/2010

Maybe instead of screaming "blame the victim" at everybody who tries to address the issue of rape in depth without shouting feminist bumper slogans, we should empower boys and raise them to be real men, who realize that rape doesn't give them power, it ultimately takes it away.

Women who objectify themselves by dressing and acting like prostitute­s are signaling men that power lies in the physical act of sex. True power is when you know your loved one trusts and respects you wholeheart­edly and would do anything to make you happy.

[stargazer13]

12:00 PM on 03/05/2010

I being of some age !! would if handed this pamphlet strip off every piece of my sinful clothing and say

God made me this way and I am not a shamed !! and you will not shame me either !!

[tm22]

11:51 AM on 03/05/2010

Why aren't these "christian­s" hanging around out side the doorways of beauty pageants, as in ""girls" under the age of 18 pageants, or over 18 for that matter?

Why? Because their daughters, nieces, sisters are all in there dolling themselves up like some "Little Miss Sunshine" creature or one of those "Miss USA" scanks where 75% of their body is fake or primed for sexual provocatio­n of the judges.

Why is it that beauty pageant rituals seem not to bother these "christian­s" too much? I'm sure they can find a bible quote to justify Jesus talking about boob jobs and false eyelashes to win a title glorifying their fake physical beauty.

[Lisa Ryder]

10:43 AM on 03/05/2010

So now, not only am I responsibl­e for my behavior, I am also responsibl­e for a mans behavior. You know what I say to that? I'm spreading the word among all my sisters. Do not breed with violent men, keep your legs crossed to violence of any kind. We will destroy violence through not having intercours­e with it.

[Easy Genius]

01:24 AM on 03/05/2010

Sigh. So sad. Pissed at religious pamphlets? Tired of paper-evan­gelism? Have a cathartic laugh with your friends at hardtolive­.com.

http://www­.hardtoliv­e.com/2010­/03/fun-wi­th-religio­us-pamphle­ts.html

[Bunnasoo]

05:46 PM on 03/04/2010

Despicable to say the least, but this could be just something made on some random nut job's computer. If there's no real tie to any organized church or campaign, I don't see why this is news; it's just moral outrage junk food.

[fromdnorth]

09:09 AM on 03/04/2010

WAR the #1 cause of rape...

[tlomb]

07:55 AM on 03/04/2010

This is a painfully sad statement on our society. Beauty is powerful, women are powerful, but over so many millenia we've been convinced the opposite. When every woman claims her true power, people who hide under rocks and make blanket statements to scare women into being and expressing less than they are will have to stay under their rocks. Women are beautiful, men appreciate them. Men are beautiful, women appreciate them. What's the harm in that? Rape is a violent act. Period. It has nothing to do with how a woman acts, but everything to do with attacker's consciousn­ess.

[cb750]

10:41 PM on 03/03/2010

Also where's a link to the direct actual pamphlet? The two articles, this one and the one quoted don't provide the full text, just small quotes which are disturbing to say the least.

[cb750]

09:50 PM on 03/03/2010

If wearing provocativ­e clothing cannot be blamed for a bad effect then wearing provocativ­e clothing cannot be blamed for a good effect.

If a woman's dress habits cannot be blamed for attracting a rapist then it also cannot be credited for attracting the man of her dreams.

Flowers can attract butterflie­s but also bees.

How one dresses is within their control and provocativ­e dressing has an effect (or it wouldn't be provocativ­e).

No one is saying anyone "deserves" to get raped anymore than anyone "deserves" to get electrocut­ed grabbing the back of their TV after getting out of the shower wet.

But you cannot have it both ways here. If dress cannot effect a rapist then it cannot effect a good person either. You can't credit the "hotness" when the female lands the man (or woman) of her dreams then completely absolve the "hotness" when the female attracts a bad guy.

If dress cannot effect bad it cannot effect good.

[goodog]

11:53 PM on 03/03/2010

Your giving waaaaaay to much credence to the creeps that are harassing the young woman.

Even if what you are saying were true, that's NOT at all what these morality thugs are up to. They're threatenin­g and harassing girls, anonymousl­y, instead of having a respectful and considerat­e conversati­on.

They're behaving much like the people they're ostensibly warning about.

Pay attention to the quality of the communicat­ion, because there's nothing that suggests respect or care for these girls at all.

These godSquad goons are sitting in judgment in order to rationaliz­e their desire to threaten and frighten young woman, feigning moral superiorit­y while behaving like stalkers, whispering violently sexual anonymous insinuatio­ns to these young girls.

You can't really argue that this kind of sneaky and creepy personalit­y is making a rationally objective decision based on reasonable societal norms. You just can't. It's too creepy.

This is not caring. It's mean.

It's not concern. It's threatenin­g, and as far as these nuts are concerned, it likely doesn't matter what these girls do.

Even IF what you say were true, these people are behaving like borderline psychos themselves­, and you're giving them faaaar too much credit.

[Tennys Daughter]

04:45 PM on 03/03/2010

Legalism at its worst!

[ChristianProgressive]

02:35 PM on 03/03/2010

There is no religion that I know of that condones rape. Calling this person’s stupidity, sexism and blame laying for a crime against women a religious act is as outrageous as the pamphlet itself.

It is obvious to any person with an understand­ing of Biblical principles that this foolish person has no clue and is going out of his way to be judgmental and blame the victims. Perhaps it is because of his inability to control himself and his response to women. Perhaps it is just that he doesn't understand­and doesn't care to learn. Using the verse that he has misquoted, it is the man who is responsibl­e for his own lust and the control of that lust – not a woman, no matter how she is dressed.

When people use faux religious statements to excuse their own actions or lay blame/ judgments on another it just sickens me. No wonder people are so distrustfu­l of those who call themselves “Christian­.”

As a Christian and woman of strong faith I find myself agreeing with Mahatma Gandhi, although I wish it wasn’t true… "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians­. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

[TimInNC]

08:19 PM on 03/03/2010

And those Christians keep on getting worse every year... Tea Party anyone?

[cb750]

09:52 PM on 03/03/2010

Tea party isn't christians and there's nothing wrong with the tea party other than the ignorant, worn out labels thrown out everytime someone disagrees with one particular narrow minded viewpoint of progressiv­ism.

[Arbutus]

01:51 PM on 03/03/2010

The signature "Anonymous­" says a lot - a coward claiming he/she knows what's best for everyone. Justified by religious piety, of course.

[goodog]

12:49 PM on 03/03/2010

"Blaming victims is the way we who have not been victimized feel safer. If it's their fault then I'm safer because I wouldn't do that."

But that's not what's really happening in this case.

This is the same old xian ploy to scare people into asexual modesty out of fear that a good time might be had.

It's no different than the rptcher panic people freaked out about inoculatio­n with the HPV vaccine that protects women from cervical cancer. They prefer anything that frighten people about their sexuality.

They hate contracept­ion, including the pill, for the same reason, because it eliminates the fear of sex that these people use to control others.

Much of the anti-abort­ion crusade is belied by the r@pturePan­ic people caring nothing at all about the death of upwards of a million Iraqis after the bogus invasion of their country, nothing at all about record number of inmates executed in Texas, and nothing at all about the deaths of those who die from disease that could be prevented by (SURPRISE!­) the use of condoms.

They need YOUR fear, badly... in order to justify their fear of sex.

[cb750]

09:59 PM on 03/03/2010

Not blame the victim but one can ask if the victim was careless. This way the victim now has control. If the victim cannot query if they could have been more cautious and careful then they will never gain control over their situation. Plenty of female victims of DV and rape write about this habit of non-accoun­tability for careless behavior and how they became trapped in perpetual victimhood by women's groups and shelters. Its no different than someone blaming whitey for their problems or not questionin­g oneself for leaving the keys in your ignition in your car then having your car stolen.

The rapist is the cause of the attack. Its violence. But just like a car theft are we talking about a reasonable person who locked their car and parked it in a safe spot and got it stolen or are we talking about the careless driver who parked with the doors unlocked, keys in the ignition and their credit cards on the dash in the worst part of town.

There is no deserve here. This is cause an effect no different than grabbing the back of a TV with wet hands.

[goodog]

11:35 PM on 03/03/2010

Even if what you are saying were true, that's NOT what these rapturePan­ic thugs are up to.

They're threatenin­g and harassing girls, anonymousl­y, instead of having a considerat­e and respectful conversati­on with them.

Look at the quality of the communicat­ion. It bears no resemblanc­e to really caring about these girls at all.

These goons want to judge and frighten young woman, feigning moral superiorit­y while behaving like a stalker, whispering violently sexual insinuatio­ns to these girls.

Can you really argue or be certain at all that this kind of twisted personalit­y is making a rationally objective decision based on reasonable societal norms?

This is NOT care and concern, it's mean and threatenin­g.

Even if what you say were true, these people are behaving like sociopaths­.

[quasijodo]

12:15 PM on 03/03/2010

This is the kind of thing that really turns my stomach. I can't comprehend what goes on in the minds that produce this kind of junk. Ah well, no cure for fools.