No woman was ever ‘provoking’ rape

Your Letter to the Editor, “Don’t teach women not to be raped, teach men not to do it” (April 11) highlights a big issue in our society.

We are concerned about rape, but do not put enough emphasis on the criminal. Instead, we blame the victim.

As Alisa Piette and Christy Candaele pointed out, the focus of preventing rape has been telling women what not to do, rather than teaching men not to do it.

I agree that it is unfair to put the burden of prevention not on the perpetrator, but on the potential victims. Telling women to not provoke rapists is an easy, short-term solution. It may stop a few women from being raped, but teaching someone to not rape others is a far more efficient solution. Rape is very damaging. It can completely destroy lives. There are many women who have been ruined by rape, but are afraid to come out and tell people about it because they will only be chastised for “provoking it” and will not be offered help to get them past such a traumatic event.

This mentality needs to be fixed immediately.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "No woman was ever ‘provoking’ rape."