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Ched Evans saying drunk girls should be wary of ‘genuine rapists’ is the most condescending form of victim blaming
Thanks for the advice
by Lucy Woodham
Ched Evans has thrown his two cents in the victim blaming game today, saying women who drink should “be made aware” because there are “genuine rapists out there”.
Yep, you read that right, “genuine rapists”.
Evans, who was initially found guilty in 2012 of raping a 19-year-old woman in her hotel room, was found not guilty in a retrial in 2016. In an interview with The Times, Ched Evans said: “If a drunk man sleeps with a drunk woman, there is only one person that could be charged and that is the man.
“I also think that women need to be made aware of the dangers they can put themselves in because there are genuine rapists out there who prey on girls who have been drinking.”
Evans has been found not guilty, and I’m not disputing that, but it doesn’t take a feminist to see this statement is bad taste, inappropriate and uncalled for.
It’s victim blaming. Rather than finding fault with the actual rapist, it’s criticising the person being raped, again. It’s like saying: “Look girls, we know you want to have a good time, but don’t have more than two glasses of wine, because there’s a rapist around the corner and you’ve bought it on yourselves for having some fun.”
It’s a backwards statement suggesting women should always be on watch, not wear anything too revealing, basically not have a good time so they don’t draw attention from people who might be a rapist. Or people who may take advantage of their slightly intoxicated state, where consent lines might be blurred.
Let’s also not forget when the footballer slept with the woman in 2012, he was engaged, and still is, to his fiancee. So if anyone is going to throw their opinion into the ethics pile to reach some moral high ground, Ched definitely isn’t the one to do it.
So while Ched enjoys his transfer back to Sheffield United and £10,000-a-week in his pocket, approximately 85,000 women are raped every year and only 15 per cent are actually brave enough to come forward. That’s because of dickheads like Ched Evans saying they’ve brought it on themselves for having a good time.