Has Chris Morris been writing today's news?
The Daily Mail heads a story this morning:
School orders pupils to wear baggy clothes 'to deter paedophiles who like boys in tight trousers'
What appears to have happened is that King's Park Secondary School in Glasgow has introduced strict new uniform regulations and, in an attempt to ensure parental support for them, has decided to whip an entirely unjustified paedophile scare.
According to the report police say there have been no incidents of schoolchildren in the area being targeted.
I suppose that if the school is determined to choose its uniform on the basis of making its pupils as unattractive as popular to paedophiles, then they should do it properly. Call together a panel of leading Glaswegian sex offenders and let them vote on it.
Perhaps this ridiculous episode is a sign that the school despairs of winning support for its uniform on a more rational basis. And I am certain that, more and more, our modern obsession with paedophiles is leading good people to make a doomed attempt to see the world through their eyes.
Unbelievable.
ReplyDeletePardon me for being old fashioned, but I thought the perpetrator was to blame and there was never an excuse to sexually abuse someone on the basis of what they were wearing.
I wonder whether the people who thought this up think women should wear long skirts.
Dearie me.
This smacks of the culture of 'blame the victim', victims of paedophiles are in some way to blame if they dress in a way believed to be attractive.
ReplyDeleteIts just like the idea that rape victims are to blame if they dressed in an appealing manner.
Of course I accept that the letter (as reported) was crass, but does nobody remember the common sense streetwise advice about not using streets and paths when and where there is risk of mugging, and about (for women in particular) not carrying a handbag because its easy to snatch? Or about not carrying an open shoulder bag because a pickpocket might dip the bag because its easier than picking your pocket? This is self-preservation, not 'blame the victim'.
ReplyDeleteI'm with dreamingspire, self preservation must come into it, as must the destinction between a paedophile and a letch. With the former attire will make no difference, but it will with the latter.
ReplyDeleteBack again. I've had a think about what I said. I'm wondering is letchy and leery behaviour a form of abuse? Where does the line get drawn?
ReplyDelete