(no subject)

[rivka]

Just in time for the annual spate of back-to-college safety lectures, james_nicoll links to Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work! For example:

1. Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.

2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!

3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!

4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.

5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!

More helpful advice is at the link.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Oh my GOD this is awesome.

I grew to bitterly resent the "carry a whistle and walk with a friend" note that my college would faithfully send out any time a female student got assaulted.

[naomikritzer]

Or rather, any time a female student reported an assault to Campus Security.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Rather any time a female student reported an assault and it wasn't written off, dropped through the cracks, downgraded, etc etc etc.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

It's been a long time, and it was in another country anyway, since I was any sort of student.

Is the implied stupidity a particularly American thing? Or are the concerned teachers trying to prevent horror-movie stupidity (I'll just go down this dark alley to find out what made that strange noise).

Problem: while so much of the publicity does suggest it's up to the women to change their behaviour, it's a bit too easy to forget that, when a pattern of crime emerges, there are people out there who already don't follow the rules.

So the sort of stuff put about at the start of an academic year ought to be distinct from incident-specific stuff. But it doesn't sound like it is.