Mercury have got it all wrong.

Ah Mercury. Where to start?

Firstly, before you deny victim blaming, you must understand what it is. It’s not just directly telling women they bring rape or any form of male-on-female violence upon themselves.

More often than not its more subtle than that, and that’s the key reason it’s so endemic within our society; your advert being the latest example.

The reason the advert is victim blaming is because once again, and the entire focus is on the behaviour of the female potential victim.

The advert covertly puts out the message that rape/assault prevention hinges on the woman ensuring she isn’t in this position of danger.

Call me stubborn, but I would really love to live in a world where I could walk down the street alone and not be in fear of hooded strangers assaulting me and, if it were to happen, the reaction not to be a look of disdain and a “why didn’t you just get a bloody taxi?”

As a society we seem to look at this completely wrongly, taking the most commonly discussed example of rape, in court victims are often questioned on what they were wearing, how much they were drinking; what were they doing to encourage this behaviour. It’s truly awful and is perpetuated by media such as this. It’s an issue that cannot be lightly over looked.

Furthermore, the SU’s general advice not to walk in certain areas at night is not the same as you capitalising on this vague threat of that hooded stranger in the dark, as you claim.

Using adverts that imply “bad things will happen unless you use taxis” is entirely different to general safety advice. It doesn’t target the specific situation of vulnerable woman on a dark street; it doesn’t have implications that there are men hiding round all corners just waiting for you to make that mistake and decide to walk home.

The next time you create an advert, just make it something harmless and relatable – like getting caught in the rain. Don’t unintentionally propagate a worn out myth that such attacks can be prevented by women wrapping themselves in cotton wool. Let’s, once and for all, turn our attention to that hooded man.

Find out why Sam Milne thinks it isn’t victim blaming, but why it’s still sexist…