Victim-blaming on 'This Morning'
If you haven't seen the background on this story yet, check out The F-Word's coverage here. The background story of the rape in question is here. Neither of these sources is goes into extensive details about the assault/s, but obviously the subject matter is potentially upsetting, so please use your discretion.
You can email ITV on this address: viewerservices@itv.com
Here is my complaint, for those who are interested. Feel free to use bits if your rage has left you speechless!
"For the attention of your Complaints staff:
I was shocked by the remark Eamonn Holmes made to a rape victim on the 25th October 2011 edition of 'This Morning'. He stated at the end of his interview with her, "I hope you take taxis now." This is an appalling way to treat a courageous young woman, because it suggests that her actions contributed to her being raped. Firstly, it is a ridiculous suggestion that taxi drivers cannot be rapists, because there have been many cases of rape by taxi drivers in this country, notoriously the serial rapist John Warboys, though he is far from being alone (the fact that we had a poster safety campaign from TfL last year warning women not to take unlicensed mini-cabs shows that this was considered to be a serious enough problem to warrant public safety announcements). Secondly, even if there had never been any convictions of rapist taxi drivers, it is utterly wrong to give any indication that victims contribute to their own assaults by failing to take what is deemed to be appropriate safety precautions. It is entirely reasonable for a woman - indeed, for any person - to believe that they should be able to walk alone without being sexually assaulted. If that is not the case, this is a serious social problem, and one whose blame should be attributed to rapists.
Rape is a crime & rapists are criminals. Blaming victims of crime for being targeted by criminals is appalling behaviour, and it is attitudes such as this which further harm & isolate victims of sexual crimes, as they make victims believe that they will not be believed when they report their assaults. This must stop; it is extremely difficult for rape to be successfully prosecuted in this country, and the expression of attitudes such as those apparently held by Eamonn Holmes contribute directly to that problem.
I believe both Holmes & ITV should immediately offer a public, unreserved apology to Abbi, the young woman in question, and should make a firm commitment to eradicate these kinds of cruel and outdated attitudes from ITV's programs & schedules entirely.
Yours faithfully,
[me]"
PS Currently using hashtags #EamonnHolmes and #victimblaming on Twitter, any others I should be aware of?
Update: I've received a standard acknowledgement email. Will wait & see if I receive anything further.
This entry was originally posted at http://nanaya.dreamwidth.org/376174.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
You can email ITV on this address: viewerservices@itv.com
Here is my complaint, for those who are interested. Feel free to use bits if your rage has left you speechless!
"For the attention of your Complaints staff:
I was shocked by the remark Eamonn Holmes made to a rape victim on the 25th October 2011 edition of 'This Morning'. He stated at the end of his interview with her, "I hope you take taxis now." This is an appalling way to treat a courageous young woman, because it suggests that her actions contributed to her being raped. Firstly, it is a ridiculous suggestion that taxi drivers cannot be rapists, because there have been many cases of rape by taxi drivers in this country, notoriously the serial rapist John Warboys, though he is far from being alone (the fact that we had a poster safety campaign from TfL last year warning women not to take unlicensed mini-cabs shows that this was considered to be a serious enough problem to warrant public safety announcements). Secondly, even if there had never been any convictions of rapist taxi drivers, it is utterly wrong to give any indication that victims contribute to their own assaults by failing to take what is deemed to be appropriate safety precautions. It is entirely reasonable for a woman - indeed, for any person - to believe that they should be able to walk alone without being sexually assaulted. If that is not the case, this is a serious social problem, and one whose blame should be attributed to rapists.
Rape is a crime & rapists are criminals. Blaming victims of crime for being targeted by criminals is appalling behaviour, and it is attitudes such as this which further harm & isolate victims of sexual crimes, as they make victims believe that they will not be believed when they report their assaults. This must stop; it is extremely difficult for rape to be successfully prosecuted in this country, and the expression of attitudes such as those apparently held by Eamonn Holmes contribute directly to that problem.
I believe both Holmes & ITV should immediately offer a public, unreserved apology to Abbi, the young woman in question, and should make a firm commitment to eradicate these kinds of cruel and outdated attitudes from ITV's programs & schedules entirely.
Yours faithfully,
[me]"
PS Currently using hashtags #EamonnHolmes and #victimblaming on Twitter, any others I should be aware of?
Update: I've received a standard acknowledgement email. Will wait & see if I receive anything further.
This entry was originally posted at http://nanaya.dreamwidth.org/376174.html. Please comment there using OpenID.