“”Wear sensible clothes, don’t wear ‘inviting’ clothes. You can imagine, if [a woman] wears short skirt and sits next to the driver, it could be ‘inviting.'”
This is what Fauzi Wibowo, the governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, said on Friday after a bus driver raped a female passenger late at night this month and after another bus driver and unidentified perpetrators gang-raped and killed a university student.
He has since apologized for the comment.
On Sunday more than 50 people in Jakarta protested the victim-blaming comment and many women wore mini-skirts, something unusual in the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world.
They held signs that read, “Don’t tell us how to dress, tell them not to rape” and “My miniskirt is my right.”
Via the Jakarta Globe:
“‘We are here to express our anger. Instead of giving heavy punishment to the rapists, the governor blamed it on women’s dress. This is discrimination,’ protest coordinator Chika Noya told AFP.
‘Rape is a serious crime against humanity,’ Noya said, adding that the governor should guarantee women’s safety on public transport.
Protester Dhyta Caturani, dressed in a miniskirt and revealing top, said: “The way women dress is not the cause of sexual violence.”
Last year the head of Aceh Barat district stated that women who don’t wear Islamic women clothing are ‘asking to be raped.’ This statement was then rejected by Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI).”
It is sick that a political leader like a governor would say something so harmful and wrong. Well done to the protesters in Jakarta for not letting his comment slide and for bringing international attention to the victim-blaming taking place in their country.
The protest was inspired by the SlutWalk in Toronto, held in April in response to a victim-blaming comment made by a police officer. Dozens of SlutWalks have taken place around the world to similarly speak out against the all-too-common response of blaming the victim for sexual assault or sexual harassment rather than the perpetrator.
Victim-blaming must end!
(Thanks to The Pixel Project for the story tip)
Concealed Weapon says
First the Toronto cop, now this?
Beckie says
How horrible. So proud of those women!