Picture this,

You come home to find your door open. Upon walking in you see that your house has been completely trashed. Your laptop, full of irreplaceable photos, and many other valuables have been stolen. The robber slashed hanging pictures and old childhood mementos, leaving everything you loved in shreds. You’ve lost everything and pull out your cell to call the police.

“911, whats your emergency?”

“Yes, I need you to send someone down here right away. I’ve been robbed.”

“Was your door unlocked or did they forcibly break in?”

“Um,” You hesitate, thinking back, “I believe I left it unlocked.”

“Hmm, kinda sounds like you were asking for it, but we’ll send a patrol car by.”



You hang up, feeling confused. You hadn’t asked to be robbed.

An officer finally shows and you let him in.

“So, you were robbed.” he asks as he surveys the destroyed room. “You have a welcome mat out front, that sorta thing is pretty suggestive, robber coulda’ thought you were inviting him in.” You stand back, aghast, as the officer continues. “Have you ever had anyone in your home before?”

“Well of course I have,” you reply.



“So what’s the problem with this person coming in? You must have wanted him to rob you. You had a welcome mat out front, left the door unlocked, and have had people here before, you were basically asking for it.” He pauses for a second and looks around. “I guess we’ll check it out, but there isn’t much we can do.” With that, he turns around and walks to the door. You yell at him to wait.

“You can’t just leave! Look at what was done! I’ve lost irreplaceable objects, precious photos, and my sense of safety; I can never get this back! That welcome mat wasn’t for a robber it was for family, friends, guests! Those other people were in my home because I invited them, I didn’t invite the person who did this! And yeah, sure, if I had locked my door this might not have happened, but locked doors are broken into all the time and it was still that robbers controllable choice to break in and take from me what I can’t replace! You HAVE to do something!!!”



The officer just shrugs. “That sucks, I guess. Have a nice night.”





Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? To tell someone that it is somehow their fault that a crime was committed against them. To tell them that they didn’t do enough to prevent it, or that they asked for it. Nobody asks for a crime to happen to them and “lack of prevention” does not equal consent. You wouldn’t blame the victim of a robbery, so why would you blame the victim of a rape?