In the past year, rapes in the city of Dallas have increased 25.3%. Seriously. Such a huge increase of reported rapes would be shocking anywhere, but in a city where crime of all sorts is down 6.3%, a 25.3% jump in rape is astounding. At a Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday, though, Police Chief David Brown came up with a brilliant solution to decrease the number of rapes in the city.
Trigger Warning
His plan? Women need to stop drinking in public. And, if they do drink, they need a babysitter. Oh, OK, gotcha. It's the woman's responsibility to make sure she's not making herself a target. Not like, you know, fostering a culture where raping a woman is not okay.
After going over the crime statistics for the year to date, city council member Delia Jasso asked why there was such a sharp increase in rapes. Chief Brown's answer: "We're needing to create a message to the victims of this type of crime, related to, you know, someone you don't know that well, you having a little bit too much to drink," explained Brown, suggesting women, "have your friends watch you, if you intend to drink in front of a man."
But this kind of reasoning makes sense to Chief Brown, because the sharp increase in rapes in the city is due to date rapes. And everybody knows date rapes are a "gray area", right?! As D Magazine's Bethany Anderson perfectly summed it up, "Don't drink if you have two x chromosomes. Forget the fact that the drunk cannot consent to sex, and nonconsensual sex=rape. I'm sure glad we cleared that up."
Of course, if you're like me, you're not so shocked by his suggestions. As depressing as it is to not be surprised that a police chief from the 9th largest city in the United States says things like this, this kind of logic is pervasive in popular culture. A woman wearing short skirt is "asking for it." A woman that flirts is "asking for it." A woman that's out alone is "asking for it." A woman that drank too much is "asking for it."
Well, Police Chief David Brown, you were asking for it: I hereby declare you the biggest douchebag of the week.