CI Heather Keating and the rape apologism that probably wasn’t
Reflection is a beautiful thing. Reconsidering your position on a subject or debate before publishing your thoughts can often help avoid the embarrassment of saying something stupid, assumptive, or not well thought through. Unfortunately channels of communication such as Twitter and Facebook and the speedy way in which you can say something, or respond to things you see being reported or said means that it’s rare that someone really considers what they’re writing before hitting the ‘Tweet’ button. Not only that, but the 140 character limit means that often people are not able to use as many words as they’d like to say what it is they’re trying to say, causing their message to be difficult to interpret by those reading it.
This is what happened when Chief Inspector Heather Keating tweeted on December 30th 2012 to say
Its always sad to see young women become victims of sexual offences, don’t drink too much on New Years eve and regret your actions!
It sounded like CI Keating was suggesting women who got drunk were to blame if they got raped, and many were angered at what Keating had said, myself included. I replied to Keating’s tweet from my personal Twitter account to say
Stop victim blaming. Try ‘don’t rape people on New Years Eve’, after all, that’s the cause of rape. Not what the victim does.
It got Retweeted 29 times, and a simple search of Keating’s (now defunct) Twitter handle @CIKeating showed that a lot of other people were sending similar (and much angrier) tweets, pointing out that they thought it was wrong to blame rape on women getting drunk, it was bad to see such an attitude displayed by a police officer, and similar messages of disgust.
I had overreacted though, and I soon realised that the Tweet from CI Keating was, at worse, ambiguous in its wording and, actually, I couldn’t be 100% sure that she was saying what so many angry Twitter users thought she was saying. She hadn’t said ‘Women, don’t drink too much on New Years Eve and regret your actions’ and I wondered if I had over reacted. Twitter conversations with a few people I know within Skeptical circles added to this doubt, then CI Keating Tweeted a clarification prompted by all of the angry responses she had received. She tweeted, in four Tweets
Reading through [the] responses to my tweet & [the] original tweet itself I’m sorry. For the record I do NOT believe that victims of any assault are responsible – their attackers are. We’ve been promoting a ‘drink responsibly’ message to all, over the last few weeks as alcohol can increase vulnerability but are aware that my wording came across in the wrong way. Please be assured that assault on both female & male victims is dealt with very seriously by my team.
The original Tweet from Keating was worded badly and did read as though she was suggesting victims of rape were sometimes to blame for their assault because they had drunk too much. This is a victim blaming mentality that is too often present within modern society – too many times have I heard people I know well say something like ‘if they wear clothes like that then what do they expect?‘ as though it’s normal to think rape is an expected consequence of wearing a short skirt or clingy top. It’s mind boggling, and it’s quite a common attitude.
Of course, those of us who were angered and outraged by Keating’s Tweet and reacted without clarifying what she meant were at fault - but I also think it was short sighted of CI Keating to not write something that was better worded. Considering she works with victims of such crimes she cannot be unaware that many women are reluctant to officially report their assaults because of the attitudes society often has of them, and that it’s a very touchy subject that generates much anger.
Many people have suggested that although alcohol does leave often leave us vulnerable there is still an element of victim blaming is CI Keating’s tweet because she has linked women becoming victims of sexual assault with a ‘drink responsibly’ campaign. A quick search of the Sussex Police website shows that the ‘be responsible’ message is promoted throughout all areas of potential crime, and that their only message about drinking says
Do not drink too much alcohol – you could become a target for thieves.
Although this does feel somewhat like victim blaming there is a certain amount of responsibility that all of us should take to keep ourselves safe, and I don’t think the messages being promoted by this force are overly victim blaming in nature. I guess the lesson we can all learn from this is that Twitter is crap for communicating properly, and that sometimes we’re all a bit hasty in responding to things without having the full picture.
Well said! Doing what will keep you safe \’right now\’ (being sober, avoiding certain neighbourhoods, etc) is important and it\’s reasonable for the police to point this out- but at the same we need to remember that we don\’t have an acceptable standard of public safety if people need to take these steps for personal protection in the first place, and solving that problem should be the long-term goal.
A thoughtful piece.
It is true that rapes, assaults, thefts and all manner of crimes are the fault of the people who decide to enact them and we should be focused primarily on arresting them and arresting the social trends that make them more common. It is also true, however, that having recognised the fact that scoundrels among us are going to enact crimes regardless of their efforts it is wise to take precautions to avoid being their victim. If we do not take them we cannot be blamed for the crimes that might befall us, because the criminals did not have to exploit our weaknesses, but we may be thought to have exercised poor judgement. There is a difference, in other words, between being morally responsible and behaving responsibly.
You seem to have ignored the possibility it was aimed at males as well as females – men, don\’t get so drunk that you\’re at risk of misinterpreting non-consent.
But I also think it\’s counter productive to shy away from the fact many women (and men) put themselves in a vulnerable position every time they go out and get blind drunk. When you do that you are putting yourself at increased risk of becoming a victim of crime or injuring yourself.
I am disgusted at the outrage hobbyists on who hounded CI Keating off twitter and bullied her because THEY made assumptions and didn\’t give her a chance to clarify — some even complained she hadn\’t replied to their angry tweets within minutes when it was fairly clear she was on duty at the time.
What I don\’t understand is that people seem to refuse to acknowledge that sympathy for a victim depends on the victim\’s own actions.
If someone falls off a balcony because the railing was poorly constructed and came loose, I feel sympathy for them. If someone falls off a balcony because they were shitfaced drunk and lost their balance while dancing on said loose railing, I will not feel as much sympathy.
Similarly, if someone gets raped out of the blue, I will feel sympathy. If someone gets raped because they were shitfaced drunk and obliviously waddling through the bad part of town by themselves, or passing out drunk in a stranger\’s house, I will feel less sympathy.
It is not victim blaming to make this distinction. In both cases, the attacker is scum, but in the second case, the victim was being dumb and deliberately ignored the consequences of their own actions.
Yet somehow, when the victim is a woman, and the crime is rape, apparently nothing she can do can make her any less of a victim. This is an absolutely ridiculous double standard, which ignores that every action has a consequence.
Will you? I won\’t.
A while ago the BBC broadcast a film about Andrew McAuley, who died while trying to kayak across the Tasman Sea. The producers played the SOS call that he made as his boat was sinking, which, tragically, the men on land failed to interpret. It was among the saddest things that I have heard. McAuley knew the risks before leaving Australia, and I thought it was irresponsible of him to brave them when he had a young child. As he was drowning, though, he must have felt as much panic and grief as any other human would.
I might disapprove of peoples\’ choices if they take actions while failing to appreciate the dangers involved but it needn\’t mean I feel less sympathy. The former does not have to exist in the place of the latter.