The local newspaper picked up the story quickly and reported the facts and social media responded by sharing and retweeting the story. As the day wore on I found myself getting a bit irritated; an irrational response, surely? People wanted to help; they suddenly stopped feeling safe in our super-safe little town.
The first shares of the story came from women, who added captions such as, "stay safe" or "be careful." Wise words, except that this particular woman wasn't throwing caution to the wind by walking home from the supermarket on a well used footpath at 5.30 in the evening. In fact, she wasn't culpable in the slightest. She couldn't be blamed for what happened to her and that worried people. Rape is horrific. We don't want to think about it but if we can somehow say that the woman was asking for it then it makes us feel safer.
The next round of social media on the subject came from people requesting that someone (although I'm not sure who) makes our footpaths safer. Ah, yes of course, it must have been the footpath's fault. Those bloody footpaths going round a raping women!
Now we have the racist angle. One of the men was described as 'of Indian or Asian appearance, wearing a green Superdry top' and now the tweets are very much focused on 'sending them home'. If these men had come to England and our little town to rape then I agree they should be sent home but personally I think proper punishment for any rapist would be better. I can see the benefit of blaming the rape on the ethnicity; it makes us feel safer. Not many Asians (or Muslims if you believe the EDL's take on it)live here and we can spot them. Avoid all people of colour and you will never be raped. White middle class men never attack women, do they? I'm pinning my hopes on the green Superdry top and am going to run, quickly, in the other direction whenever I see someone wearing one.
The truth is, we are not safe from rape. It is the only crime where the statistics are rising and the convictions are falling. We live in a world where approximately 35 women a day are raped (some men too) and where we make excuses for the men who commit these violent crimes. These criminals feel quite safe. They know that even if they are caught they will probably get away with it. If they are caught and prosecuted then they will serve a short sentance and quickly get back to their old life, where they can tell everyone that it was the girl's fault; she led them on, wore a short skirt, was drunk but not too drunk to consent and anyway it wasn't rape they were only cheating. They might even get their mates to set up a website to name and blame the victim, so that men everywhere give her a hard time.
We also live in a world where women are sexualised to an extent we've stopped noticing. It's a world where women's sexualised bodies are used to sell even the blandest of items. It's a world where women who want to have their music heard must dance in their pants. The subconscious message many young men are getting is that women are on this planet purely for their sexual amusement.
This is just how I use my trainers!
I know that everyone wants to help and make us all feel safer but the best thing we can do is to stop giving excuses to men who attack sexually. These crimes should all be taken seriously and properly prosecuted.
Sometimes, the Long Suffering Husband and I discuss sexual crimes that have been reported in the press. His default position is to defend the man as he feels a solidarity with people of his gender. When I point out that he is not the same, that he would never treat a woman like that he feels let down. Please men, remember that when I ask you to take the crime of rape seriously and stop making excuses for men who have raped then I know that you are not the same. You couldn't accidentally fall on a woman and rape her.
This is a small town and someone must know something. These men do not deserve to be protected. The only thing that we can do for victims of rape is take them seriously and hope that their attacker is caught and prosecuted quickly and effectively.
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