Well she was asking for it. Really????

It was another of those Internet stories.

Not sure exactly where in the world, but a young woman had gone out on a very hot day, and for comfort was wearing a lightweight top, shorts and ankle socks.

Given her garb, of course she was being provocative, and of course the guy who raped her was doing only what she might have expected, or should have expected.

Really?

If a woman of whatever age chooses to dress a certain way, that is a matter of her choice. It might attract more than the passing glance from the occasional male - but it does not justify any male forcing himself upon her against her will!!!!

It is not the behaviour of the girl that is at fault. It is the man refusing to contain his criminal urges. If he wanted to enjoy some time with her (cutely expressed, huh?), then he should have talked to her and tried to persuade her. If she agreed, fine, if not, he should leave her alone!

Rape though is not merely about sex. It is about brute force and power, and control. Sometimes, sex is the least important factor - see what happens with political rape in wars.

A woman does not have to be young, pretty and skimpily dressed to be a rape victim either. There are cases in the Muslim world where women who wear all the enforced paraphernalia customary in those countries who get raped. There are also cases of women of 70 and even 80 (I can quote one case I have read about in the UK where an 80-year-old woman was raped quite recently).

What drives some people .... Well maybe I am too reasonable and law-abiding and do not understand such primeval urges. A woman of 80 though?

And of course there are also men who get raped. Homosexual rape was the fast rising crime in terms of numbers in the UK a few years ago, and it is widely practised in jails in many countries round the world.

There is and never will be any justification for it.

Some women fantasise about it though, don't they? There is one thing to remember anyone who fantasises about such things - in the fantasy the person has control. You never lose that. In reality that control is never there. Consent is never present. That should never, ever, be forgotten, and the next time that you hear of anyone being raped, whatever their age and their style of clothing, your sympathies should lie fairly and squarely with the victim of the attack.