This is a poster hanging in a women’s restroom where I work.
Do you think the poster provides good advice? Or do you think it only serves to blame the victim?
It all looks like good advice to me.
I’m hard-pressed to think of any advice one could give in hopes of helping a person avoid being a victim that couldn’t be construed as “blaming the victim”. If you say “Stay alert”, and the person gets victimized anyway, can you then say “Well, you didn’t stay alert enough!”
The advice looks okay to me, but I don’t hang around bars generally. My main advice would be “go for the eyes!”
Taking the latter position would be ridiculous. Let’s consider some other crimes:
Tips for avoiding:
[ul]
[li]Getting mugged[/li][li]Getting beaten[/li][li]Getting burgled[/li][li]Having your identity stolen[/li][/ul]
These all seem reasonable, don’t they? I’m sure I’ve been on the receiving end of such tips many times. Yeah, you should be able to walk in all the dark alleys you want. You should be able to walk around any neighbourhood proclaiming your love for any team or “social club”, without risking a beating or shooting. You should be able to leave your front door unlocked and have 1234 as your PIN. But sometimes the harsh reality is that these things make it more likely you will become a victim of crime. Anyone against advice to help avoid becoming a victim is too caught up in the principles of what should be, not the realities of the world.
I think it’s OK to give tips like that, but they have to be a secondary component of trying to stop the harassment from happening the first place and punishing it severely when it does happen. A lot of people in the military don’t feel like those things are happening right now, so perhaps you can see where they would be annoyed if there is a huge controversy about sexual assault in the military and the response is a poster that says “tips to avoid sexual harassment.”
Those are commonsensical tips on preventing sexual assault. It is hard to think of any tips on preventing sexual harassment that would not be blaming-the-victim.
I just came in here to make the exact point that BrainGlutton just made. From the thread title, I thought this would be about sexual harassment, and I was prepared to argue strenously against the poster. Then I saw that it was about sexual assault, and completely changed my opinion. In general, people who commit sexual harassment think that what they are doing is O.K. Prevention measures should be aimed at the perpetrators, to teach them what sexual harassment is, explain why it is wrong, and let them know the consequences. In general, people who commit sexual assault know that it’s wrong and don’t care (or have psychological problems that prevent them from understanding that it’s wrong). Prevention has to be aimed primarily at potential victims, because you’re not going to be able to retrain the perpetrators.
Only if ‘eyes’ is a euphemism for ‘testicles’.
“Directly inform your harasser that you feel their behavior is harassing and you want it to stop immediately.”
I don’t have a problem with this poster. I think these kinds of tips are inappropriate after an assault, but as general information, in tandem with education about consent and zealous prosecution, I think it’s fine.
I don’t think the poster is terrible as a concept. Although the graphic design looks like it was created by a complete amateur and that makes me want to set it on fire.
By the time this advice is beneficial, you’re already been harassed. It’s not really an ‘avoidance’ tip, per se.
Who exactly is the audience here? Women who are newly emerged from the convent?
Most women have been dealing with sexual harassment and potentially sexual dangerous situations since they were 12 or so. Advice like “try to avoid areas that are secluded” are useless and patronizing. It’s like a poster on “How to avoid broken bones” that’s full of helpful advice like “be careful when you walk” and “avoid walking on ice.”
If they really need to make a sexual assault prevention poster aimed at women, at the very least include some useful information. Last time I joined an organization where it was an issue, they told use straight up “X number of women in this program have been assaulted in the past years, the perpetrators were A, B and C. We had once case where D occurred. Alcohol was involved in Z% of cases. Ultimately Q people were arrested and U saw jail time. If you are a victim of assault, here is the process for reporting and the health and confidentiality information associated with it. Here are a few case studies showing what we’ve found to be typical cases of assault among people in your sitution, and here is some advice from women currently in your position who can speak to what they’ve done to feel safer. If you find yourself in a situation that feels unsafe, call this number, and if you want to report an assault, call this number.”
Are you supposed to call the “Sexual Assault Response Coordinator” before you call the police? Because that bright red FIRST makes me think they are more concerned with controlling institutional response than justice. And some of that advice I consider problematic in a workplace: if a woman in the Air Force ought not walk from one end of the base to the other after dark, or walk away from the group with another member of the military that she doesn’t know well . . .how does that not compromise her career? How can she do her job effectively if she can’t be alone with people she doesn’t know well?
And if they are only talking about off-base, why call the coordinator?
Well, it can help you avoid being harassed again by someone who’s merely clueless rather than predatory.
If this was not a military base, acknowledging that “there are bad people out there and we haven’t succeeded in locking them all up yet, so here’s some tips to avoid them” would not be offensive. What makes it offensive is the way the military treats rape victims, up to and including threatening them with court martials.
They left one off of the list
I agree with Sven - its patronizing. And its about assault, not harassment - a whole different deal
This has been linked to before: http://hilaroar.tumblr.com/post/45957899437/safetytipsforladies-or-why-victim-blaming-is
Those safety tips for ladies changed (and almost certainly saved!) my life. I’m following them all simultaneously.
At the OP’s request, I’ve changed the word “harassment” in the thread title to “assault.”