That’s the message Marjorie Taylor Greene shared recently, that conservative Christian women should dress conservatively and modestly: “It’s also good to not tempt your Christian brothers and cause them to stumble.”
This is one of the ugliest and most common undead sexist cliches, that if men commit rape or harassment it’s because women’s sexy looks and slutty ways drove them to it! The women were, as the rape apologist phrase goes, asking for it. The provocative dress defense used to be commonplace in rape trials: show the woman was dressed too sexy, imply the guy couldn’t help himself, or that she was even going out looking to get laid, the slut. Presto, acquittal!
Like all undead sexist cliches, it’s bullshit. When men rape it’s not because women “cause them to stumble,” it’s because the men make a choice to rape. The use of date rape drugs, of tactics to get a woman alone show the rapists are making calculated choices, not mindless reactions to miniskirts. Let’s not forget, women in burkhas have been raped. Nineteenth-century women in long Victorian dresses got raped. Women in conservative Christian churches where “modest” dress is the norm still get raped.
While this attitude is one that can turn up anywhere, some Christian conservatives make it worse by incorporating it into their faith. Bill Gothard’s creepy church, according to the Duggars documentary, taught women their bodies were “eye-traps” irresistibly drawing men’s attention unless suitably covered up. That tells women if they’re raped, it’s their own fault; it tells men that if they rape, they’re not responsible.
In this line of thinking there is no way a woman can dress that will protect her from blame. For too many people, just the fact she was raped proves she was at fault. Beyond that, men’s feeling of attraction or arousal is too often seen as something she’s doing to him. She’s making him feel the way he does; his arousal is proof she’s dressing too sexy. For antifeminist propagandists such as Suzanne Venker, it’s intentional: women who get sexually harassed aren’t innocent, they know perfectly well what they’re doing to men! Pastor Carl Gallups even tops that: in his eyes women who dress sexy are committing sexual assault on men.
Even if all this crackpot misogyny were true, in a sane world that would put the burden on men. If they’re animals who can’t restrain themselves, blindfold them when they go out. Don’t let them go to strip shows. Have minders to watch them in singles bars. Cage the predators, not the victims.
But the unwritten law is that restraining male sexuality is totally unjust. Boys will be boys and men will be rapists. Men are biologically hardwired to rape (no, we’re not, as I explain at the link — and the Guardian explains too). Making it illegal to rape goes against nature. Much better to restrict women by telling them not to dress sexy, not to drink, not to be alone at night. If they don’t follow the rules, blame them. If they do follow the rules, blame them anyway because few women (like most human beings) rarely calculate their actions perfectly. And if they do exercise “proper” caution blame them for being so hostile to men or so prudish about showing off their bodies. There’s no winning. And that’s the way misogynists want it.
For more on rape, harassment and victim blaming, read my Undead Sexist Cliches, available as a Amazon paperback, an ebook and from several other retailers.
