Just don't do it

When I read the list, Safety Precautions to Avoid a Rape Confrontation with a Stranger, in my Psychology of Women textbook I noticed that it was advice for women. (Despite the gender neutral title.) I don't understand why women, who aren't committing any crime, are the ones responsible for rape prevention. In the majority of cases it's men who commit the crime, so why is most rape prevention advice geared towards women? So I've decided to come up with some advice, for men, to avoid a rape confrontation.


For Men: Safety Precautions to Avoid a Rape Confrontation

General Precautions

1. Go to a rape crisis center and read up on rape, namely what it is, who does it and what the law constitutes as rape.
2. Watch how much you drink when you’re in the presence of women. Men are much more likely to be sexually aggressive when they drink, so set boundaries while drinking alcoholic beverages.
3. Take a course in women’s studies and in reading female body language. This will make you more understanding and aware how you might make women uncomfortable with your actions.
4. If a woman tells you to leave her alone, leave her alone. Even if you don’t think she wants you to, because her statement should be a good enough reason for you to stop.

Precautions at Home

1. Don’t go into a house either through a door or window when you haven’t been invited inside. Even if the doors and windows are unlocked you still shouldn’t go inside without permission.
2. If you’re a repairman or a deliveryman, please have your identification ready to prove you are who you say you are.
3. Never enter an elevator if there is a strange woman, she might feel uncomfortable. Make sure that the apartment manager keeps the public areas well lit, so women can feel free to walk around.

Precautions on the Street

1. Be alert to your surroundings. If you notice that you’re making the women around you uncomfortable then leave the area.
2. If you’re on the street, in a parking lot, or in a secluded area in the presence of a woman you don’t know, go someplace else. Your presence might make her uncomfortable.
3. While driving in your car make sure that you don’t give any appearance that you’re following a woman you don’t know. If you think you are then turn around and go the other way.

Finally:

If you have forced or coerced a woman into having sex with you against her will, you have raped her. She isn’t in anyway responsible for your actions. It is YOUR fault.

*Original list found on pg 442 of The Psychology of Women, Sixth Edition, by Margaret W Matlin.