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Daybreak missing the point

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rape-victim-britTrotting out the tired prejudice that the – female – victim of an assault can be blamed.

Did you know that very close to 1 in 12 people believe victims of sexual assault can sometimes be held responsible for their own assault?

According to a recent paper from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales, that many believed that victims bear most or total responsibility if they were drunk, taken drugs or had flirted with their attacker beforehand.

This worrying finding must be publicly discussed.

However, the television breakfast show Daybreak approached the finding and indeed the whole paper with a question that reduced both to a rehash of the sexist prejudice that women in particular can sometimes be blamed when they are assaulted.

Before an episode of the ITV show on 15 February, Daybreak’s official Twitter account tweeted: “Controversial question – can women who are drunk or flirty ever be blamed for being attacked? Some viewers said yes in survey, yr thoughts?”

A very similar status question was posted on its Facebook page.

Many viewers hit back angrily, pointing out that it is downright illegal, rather than merely ‘controversial’, to attack women and the question implied that blaming female victims of sexual assault is sometimes legitimate.

One reply to Daybreak’s tweet said: “@Daybreak Attacking women is illegal. Just FYI. Doesn’t actually matter what your viewers think. #everydaysexism #ffs”

Another commented: @Daybreak by asking the question rather than condemning the answers you made your position really clear… and that’s what’s so troubling”

What was Daybreak’s response?

It “clarified” that it chose to ask the question “based on the results of a survey conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) last week which were widely reported in the media.”

However, what Daybreak doesn’t seem to have attempted to clarify was why on earth it chose to focus on the responsibility of female sexual assault victims in particular.

It is true that the ONS paper reported that around 1 in 12 of the people surveyed thought that the victim is mostly or even completely responsible for someone sexually assaulting or raping them in certain circumstances.

And the report said 5.8 per cent thought the victim to blame if they were drunk, 7.7 per cent if the victim was under the influence of drugs and 7.1 if the victim had been flirting heavily with their attacker beforehand.

But the gender of the victim was not specified in the question asked by the ONS survey.

Why then did Daybreak decide to focus its question on female victims’ behaviour before they were sexually assaulted?

Although women are much more likely than men to be sexually assaulted – 3 per cent of women in the survey reported being sexually assaulted last year, compared to 0.3 per cent of men – the gender of the victim is irrelevant to whether or not they are to blame.

The only person to blame for sexual assault is the attacker.

By responding to the survey by focusing on female victims’ contested responsibility, Daybreak only succeeded in trotting out the tired prejudices that the – female – victim can be blamed and that the female victim’s behaviour before being sexually assaulted deserves particular attention.

There were many other troubling findings Daybreak could have highlighted from the survey.

Is it more important to construct a damaging debate asking if women can ever be blamed for being attacked than to ask why there has been no statistically significant change in sexual assault figures between surveys carried out in 2004/05 and 2010/11?

And what about the fact that 38 per cent of victims of serious sexual assault – with sexual assault defined as rape or assault by penetration and including attempts – questioned had not previously told anyone about it, while only 13 per cent had told the police?

Or that over half of the victims of serious sexual assault suffer mental or emotional problems?

There is a lot that needs to be examined from the findings, and many issues about which everyone needs to be made more aware.

But if responses to such findings merely ask if we can ever blame women who are sexually assaulted, all that starts is an argument that at worst will mean the statistics are bleaker next time around.

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