Eilonnwy -
What you're saying is that a woman can't tell, at the time, whether or not she's at risk, or what she can do to try and minimise any risk. What I'm saying is that she may or may not be able to do those things, and also even in hindsight she may or may not be able to tell where it all went wrong. I'm also saying that she should try, to the best of her ability and knowledge, to assess those things, and do what she can to minimise any perceived risk, as opposed to consciously not bothering to assess anything or try to minimise any risk.In other words, be careful, not careless. That's what responsibility is.
If you go into a bar and in your opinion you decide that there's very little risk, and that all you have to do to minimise any risk that there might possibly be is to simply not wear anything too revealing, and you do nothing else, and you then get raped, one can say that you at least took responsibility for yourself. Whether you were correct in your judgment or not, and whether you get raped or not, and regardless of your assessment of the situation in hindsight, you still showed responsibility. You tried. You decided to own your life and your safety and at least you tried. That's all that matters, your attitude. You can live your entire life being careless, and never get raped, but you'll still be a fool, and a lucky one at that. And you can live your whole life being careful, yet get raped over and over again, but you will still be a responsible person, albeit a very unlucky one.
What you're saying is that a woman can't tell, at the time, whether or not she's at risk, or what she can do to try and minimise any risk. What I'm saying is that she may or may not be able to do those things, and also even in hindsight she may or may not be able to tell where it all went wrong. I'm also saying that she should try, to the best of her ability and knowledge, to assess those things, and do what she can to minimise any perceived risk, as opposed to consciously not bothering to assess anything or try to minimise any risk.In other words, be careful, not careless. That's what responsibility is.
If you go into a bar and in your opinion you decide that there's very little risk, and that all you have to do to minimise any risk that there might possibly be is to simply not wear anything too revealing, and you do nothing else, and you then get raped, one can say that you at least took responsibility for yourself. Whether you were correct in your judgment or not, and whether you get raped or not, and regardless of your assessment of the situation in hindsight, you still showed responsibility. You tried. You decided to own your life and your safety and at least you tried. That's all that matters, your attitude. You can live your entire life being careless, and never get raped, but you'll still be a fool, and a lucky one at that. And you can live your whole life being careful, yet get raped over and over again, but you will still be a responsible person, albeit a very unlucky one.
