An argument in favour of teetotalism
According to an Ipsos Mori poll commissioned by the Home Office, a rape victim who has been drinking should be held responsible for her rape - or so think 11% of respondents. A further 25% think that she should be held "partially responsible".
So, ladies, don't drink. Because a full 36% of your fellow country-people - that's over a third - think that alcohol consumption by the victim causes the perpetrator to rape.
To put it another way - for added clarity, in case you didn't get the message first time around - at least three out of every ten co-workers, neighbours and acquaintances you have believe that drinking has the side effect of making strange body parts materialize in places where they weren't previously found. Like your vagina.
Oh, and the Home Secretary's suggestion to combat this belief? She doesn't have one. The best she can come up with is influencing manufacturers to stop making overly sexualized clothes for pre-tens. Because a) Playboy t-shirts for the prepubescent are obviously a cause and not a symptom, and b) making women cover up their bodies is a well known recipe for both safety and equality. Just look at all the good the burqa has done in Afghanistan alone.
I sat in a meeting yesterday with this guy who kept staring at my tits and calling me Maria. After half an hour of that, I felt I needed a shower, and had a good head of feminist rage on the brew. But this survey, it just... Made me lose the will to live. Seriously. What can you even say?
(Oh, by the way, for those inevitable few who'll be wondering what I was wearing that made him stare: I was, in fact totally topless. No, seriously. The thing is though, that even as they are ranging free and enjoying the fresh air, my breasts are still incapable of speech. There's just no point trying to have a business related discussion with them, as they will not talk back. If that guy is unable to spot that biological reality for himself, then he should definitely be getting paid a lot less than he is. Maybe disability benefit level, that sort of thing.)