cyrreblogs:

No more of that “imagine you have a Rolex” or “what if your body is a car left in a bad neighborhood” crap where people try to explain that rape / sexual assault is the rapist’s fault by comparing women’s bodies to material possessions. I thought of a better way to describe it:

Say you’re going for a hike in some mountains. Just walking along the nice wide trail minding your own business. Out of nowhere, someone comes over and shoves you so hard that you’re knocked off the trail. You tumble down the mountainside and get all banged up and hurt. What a terrible thing for them to do! Does anyone blame you? Of course not, that other person pushed you. It’s their fault.

Now imagine the trail is narrower, so you have to walk closer to the edge. You’re still walking along minding your own business. Someone comes over and shoves you off the trail. You tumble down the mountainside and get all banged up and hurt. Is it your fault? No! Who goes around pushing people down mountains??

You reach the top of the mountain and walk over to the edge of a cliff to admire the view. Someone shoves you off the cliff! You fall a long way and are badly hurt. Did you fall and get hurt because you were close to the edge? No, you got hurt because that person pushed you.

What if you decide to do a handstand near the edge so your friends can take a silly photo, and someone pushes you off? Is it your fault then? No. Doing a handstand at the edge of a cliff might not be the best idea, but that doesn’t make it your fault someone pushed you off, and your being silly near the edge DEFINITELY doesn’t make it okay for that person to push you.

That’s how it works. Some circumstances are inherently less safe than others, but - just like the person who pushed you off a cliff is the person responsible for you falling - the only person who is at fault for rape is the person committing the assault.