Rape and male power
From Sarah Farrier-Rabstein
Sir: Rod Liddle (‘Sometimes women share the blame’, 26 November) may think he has a point about the greater likelihood of women being targets for male violence as a result of their dress, conduct or location, but his analysis ignores the fact that a significant number of rapes happens to older women and very young girls who are not advertising their visibility. Many of them are assaulted while blamelessly sequestered in their own homes, the victims of their husbands and fathers or of violent burglars.
Rape has little to do with provocative attire or the demeanour of the victim; it is an expression of male assertion of power. Look, for instance, at the phenomenon of South African girls raped by a generation of disfranchised black men.
Ironically, Mr Liddle’s pronouncements on women’s responsibility contradict his usual intolerance for Muslim women wearing the hijab, which he views as an assault upon female liberty.
Sarah Farrier-Rabstein London N20
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