LETTER: My name is Sarah and I'm a woman, living in a society that has decided I cannot walk alone, or wear the clothes I want to wear, or talk the way I want to talk.
Society has decided it is up to me to monitor MY behaviour in order to help YOU keep yours in check.
I can't be friendly, because that's an invitation, but I can't be rude or dismissive, or even decline your advances, because well, who do I think I am, bruising your ego like that?
I should not walk or run at anytime after sunset, because that's an invitation.
Surely I know that right? And the skirt in my wardrobe that sits higher than my knee?
Don't worry, I know that if I wear it, it's because I want you to attack me.
It's too hard to tell the men today that this problem exists because it's being perpetuated by society every day. So the onus is on us. It's our problem to fix.
A woman is raped. What did she do to make that happen? What was she wearing? Was she too nice to him? Not nice enough? What did SHE do to make him behave that way and what can SHE do to ensure it doesn't happen again?
A woman is friendly. She's encouraging unwanted advances. She's asking for trouble. She's leading him on. She shouldn't have smiled.
She needs to make sure SHE doesn't do that again. She should understand that this is what a man will see, what he will think. SHE needs to understand it.
If this is your first reaction when hearing of these attacks, these innocent exchanges, then you are further perpetuating the idiocy that says the woman needs to change HER behaviour.
And to those rare few men that recognise the stupidity of this, I say thank you.
Thank you for giving me hope that my daughter might just be ok.
Sarah Hayward, Bunbury.
