Students in a Belgian university have been banned from wearing dresses in case it causes them to be raped. Unlike most stories of victim-blaming, though, this ban affects men. Flanders News.be reports:
As in the United States, student fraternities in Belgium have a long tradition of initiation rituals for new members, some of which include male students wearing drag.
Last month, a student that was on his way to an initiation evening dressed as a woman was set upon by a group of youths. They took him to a car park before robbing him of his mobile and gang raping him.
The HUB advises its students that “certain groups perceive wearing drag as being provocative.” Consequently, the Institute of Higher Education that groups most the capital’s Dutch-medium colleges of higher education advises its students against dressing as a member of the opposite sex.
If it needs to be said again, then so be it. There is nothing you can wear which makes it your fault if you are raped. Rapists have no right to dictate how you dress. If you are raped, it is the fault of:
1) The person who raped you.
That goes for a woman wearing a short skirt in a club or a man wearing a dress in a Brussels suburb.
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