# Swiss tourist gang-raped in India **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154 "2013-03-17T05:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/41 "2013-03-18T20:09:21Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > …telling the victims that they were asking for it or should have known better because of the area is insensitive and unnecessary. Wait, are they posting in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/42 "2013-03-18T20:23:30Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > Whether it was a man or woman, sexual assault or not, what happened to them was brutal and telling the victims that they were asking for it or should have known better because of the area is insensitive and unnecessary. You don’t think they realize that now? > Just because other dbags on the internet are saying the same thing it doesn’t make it right. There’s a difference between talking about how stupid it is to go camping in an area your own country has issued warnings about and literally telling the victims, “you deserved it!” ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/43 "2013-03-18T20:47:10Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > For you to say otherwise only serves to further highlight your stupidity on this topic. Let’s not do any name-calling, OK? ALSO I’m moving this to IMHO, since it’s clearly an event on which people are expressing an opinion. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/44 "2013-03-18T22:39:11Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I was trying to explain the attitude, not endorsing it. I’m just saying if you want to be flabbergasted by this attitude well you’ll have plenty to keep you busy. > > I’m not clear what you mean by “Also, there are lots and lots of other places in the world where victim blaming as a concept exists.” because I was basically saying its the most prevalent attitude around the world. I’m hardly flabbergasted; don’t flatter yourself. You think you’re the first rape minimizer I’ve ever run across? Oh, if only… Also, I obviously meant victim blaming as a concept to be _avoided_. I’m sorry; I knew who I was talking to and still didn’t explain every tiny detail. I’ll be more careful in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/45 "2013-03-18T22:47:59Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > you dont understand. They went exploring that extremely unsafe area on bicycle. They were practically asking for trouble. Somebody doesn’t understand. But it’s not **April**. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/46 "2013-03-18T23:23:54Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I’m hardly flabbergasted; don’t flatter yourself. You think you’re the first rape minimizer I’ve ever run across? Oh, if only… Oh please:rolleyes: I’m done here and unsure why you’ve chosen to slander and insult me. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/47 "2013-03-19T00:48:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Wait, are they posting in this thread? **truthseeker** flat out said “they were practically asking for trouble.” I try not to to be hyperbolic, I usually only comment on something if it has actually been said 🙂 Not to say I don’t make mistakes but this time was not one. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/48 "2013-03-19T03:20:04Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > There’s a difference between talking about how stupid it is to go camping in an area your own country has issued warnings about and literally telling the victims, “you deserved it!” that’s right, by “practically asking” I didnt mean they deserved it. In that case, I would not have hoped for speedy punishments for the guilty , wouldn’t have felt sad for the victims and said that its an embarrassing reality about some parts in India. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > It’s not “victim blaming” to think that someone should do a little research into an area they will be traveling so they know what is safe! Or is it only **“victim blaming” because it was a woman who was raped?** Think this might be there smwhere in the subconscious, tht it was brutality with a woman also tht becoz it was sexual assault. take the example Italians’ kidnapping of last year - there’s a constant conflict going on over there between security people and the naxals resulting in loss of life of 100s of people every year. when you say they were ‘practically asking’ it means they willfully went into an area of high risk. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/49 "2013-03-19T03:41:22Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > Whether it was a man or woman, sexual assault or not, what happened to them was brutal and telling the victims that they were asking for it or should have known better because of the area is insensitive and unnecessary. You don’t think they realize that now? > Just because other dbags on the internet are saying the same thing it doesn’t make it right. to the victims, I would have said I am sorry for what happened and say that they are being very brave in the way they are coping with the situation even if they weren’t very brave because it will help their mental situation. ofcourse, I will not tell them what they did was stupid and they were practically asking fr trouble.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/50 "2013-03-19T03:54:48Z")
“[They Were Asking For It](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/india-gang-rape-swiss-tourist_n_2900508.html?utm_hp_ref=world)” seems to be the official stance now. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/51 "2013-03-19T04:02:45Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > “[They Were Asking For It](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/india-gang-rape-swiss-tourist_n_2900508.html?utm_hp_ref=world)” seems to be the official stance now. Ugh, that is awful . . . what terrible PR. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/52 "2013-03-19T04:34:31Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > Ugh, that is awful . . . what terrible PR. :smack: "The most recent attack comes just three months after a 23-year-old woman was gang raped and beaten on a public bus by five men in New Delhi. The defense lawyer for three of the accused placed some of the blame on the now-deceased victim, saying a “respected lady” does not get raped. **Blaming a female victim of a sex crime is common in India because of a woman’s role in society, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.** “This is the mentality which most Indian men are suffering from unfortunately,” Ranjana Kumari, director for the New Delhi-based Centre for Social Research, told the newspaper. “That is the mindset that has been perpetrating this crime because they justify it indirectly, you asked for it so it is your responsibility.” Apparently not only in India, unless **truthseeker** is Indian, then I redact my assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/53 "2013-03-19T04:51:21Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I once made the mistake of camping in an isolated (but not enough) area of north Georgia known for “buggery”. > > Did not go well. Though the whitewater and scenery were kinda nice. I think I hear banjo music, ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/54 "2013-03-19T05:09:54Z")
eef > [@April\_R](#): > > "The most recent attack comes just three months after a 23-year-old woman was gang raped and beaten on a public bus by five men in New Delhi. The defense lawyer for three of the accused placed some of the blame on the now-deceased victim, saying a “respected lady” does not get raped. > > **Blaming a female victim of a sex crime is common in India because of a woman’s role in society, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.** > > “This is the mentality which most Indian men are suffering from unfortunately,” Ranjana Kumari, director for the New Delhi-based Centre for Social Research, told the newspaper. “That is the mindset that has been perpetrating this crime because they justify it indirectly, you asked for it so it is your responsibility.” > > Apparently not only in India, unless **truthseeker** is Indian, then I redact my assumption. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > It’s not “victim blaming” to think that someone should do a little research into an area they will be traveling so they know what is safe! Or is it only “victim blaming” because it was a woman who was raped? see, what **Eyebrows 0f Doom** says is right. **April R** , there are people in India(of older generation mostly) who’d blame rape victim for wearing tight clothing, being out in the night even in cities, going to discos etc etc. Please see the difference between this and what I’ve written in my posts. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/55 "2013-03-19T09:41:39Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > “[They Were Asking For It](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/india-gang-rape-swiss-tourist_n_2900508.html?utm_hp_ref=world)” seems to be the official stance now. I guess that means that female tourists should not go to India, at all, ever, unless they are accompanied by a half a dozen or so large male bodyguards. Or at least that’s the message that _I_ am taking from that statement. Talk about victim blaming! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/56 "2013-03-19T11:07:07Z")
It reads like some sort of bad joke. “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” What, her vagina was in the same place as 9 penises were going to be? Yeah, she should try not to have her vagina there. That’s just the wrong place, and the wrong time. :rolleyes::smack: ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/57 "2013-03-19T11:35:58Z")
From Duke of Rat’s link: > [@](#): > > “They apparently lost track and took a wrong turn and decided to halt for the night by the side of a village brook little realizing that the district with 85:100 men to women ratio is not the safest place for women,” a senior official from the region told the newspaper. Crossing “MIT tour” off my Boston itinerary… ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/58 "2013-03-19T11:46:16Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I guess that means that female tourists should not go to India, at all, ever, unless they are accompanied by a half a dozen or so large male bodyguards. Or at least that’s the message that _I_ am taking from that statement. Talk about victim blaming! :mad: > [@gracer](#): > > It reads like some sort of bad joke. “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” > > What, her vagina was in the same place as 9 penises were going to be? Yeah, she should try not to have her vagina there. That’s just the wrong place, and the wrong time. > > :rolleyes::smack: lets say the woman didn’t get raped, but the couple only got looted, kidnapped or assaulted. then the following quote about the bandit affected area would sound less like victim blaming: > [@](#): > > “No one stops there," Budholiya said. “Why did they choose that place? They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would have passed a police station on the way to the area they camped. They should have stopped and asked about places to sleep.” ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/59 "2013-03-19T11:59:53Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > From Duke of Rat’s link: > > Crossing “MIT tour” off my Boston itinerary… Chambal valley is an extremely unsafe area both for men and women. cant expect the guy who’s looting you to show moral restraint to not rape you(if u’r a woman), if he doesn’t get enough sex or no sex at all. ---
**Author:** ![StJoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@StJoan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StJoan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154/60 "2013-03-19T12:03:43Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > to the victims, I would have said I am sorry for what happened and say that they are being very brave in the way they are coping with the situation even if they weren’t very brave because it will help their mental situation. ofcourse, I will not tell them what they did was stupid and they were practically asking fr trouble.🙂 **truthseeker2** , you are obviously native to India. Do _you_ think that what they did was stupid and that they were asking for trouble? That is the important question. > [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > “[They Were Asking For It](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/india-gang-rape-swiss-tourist_n_2900508.html?utm_hp_ref=world)” seems to be the official stance now. Quoting from the report in Huffington post: “They apparently lost track and took a wrong turn and decided to halt for the night by the side of a village brook little realizing that the district with 85:100 men to women ratio is not the safest place for women,” a senior official from the region told the newspaper. " So the area is unsafe because social customs have decimated the population of women, and not because it is “well known for banditry”. I have heard of foreign offices advising travelers to avoid going to certain areas for various diplomatic reasons, but this will be the first time that tourists will advised to look up the sex-ratio map of India before planning their trip! India may have crawled out of poverty (if you accept that a person can keep body and soul together on $1.25 a day), but, nuclear weapons notwithstanding, this (desperately) wanna-be superpower has a lo-o-ong way to go before it becomes a member of the 1st world, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-in-india/653154.md?page=4)