Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Why a survivor's clothing and/or body is never the cause of sexual assault.

26 Jun 2024 · 1 min

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0:52

In this short spoken presentation, the speaker confronts ongoing victim‑blaming attitudes that claim a survivor’s clothing or exposed skin causes sexual assault. Using a live‑audience format, the speaker asks participants to share examples of victim‑blaming, then systematically dismantles the “clothing leads to assault” narrative. By highlighting the absurdity of blaming attire—pointing out that many people wear similar outfits without being assaulted—the speaker emphasizes that the perpetrator’s choice to act, not the survivor’s appearance, is the true cause. The talk’s purpose is to equip listeners with quick response tools, challenge the myth that visual exposure triggers assault, and shift responsibility back onto the aggressor.

Chapters

Victim blaming, is it still happening? Yes. All right, give me examples of victim blaming. I'll give you quick tools you can use to respond to that. Raise your hand and give me an example of victim blaming. What were you wearing? Okay, so clothing leads to sexual assault. Great. What was the perpetrator wearing? Because if we know that, we'll make that illegal because clearly that caused them to perpetrate. Does that sound ridiculous, by the way? Yes or no? Yes, it does, because clothing can't cause this. So then they go, no, no, it wasn't the clothing. They'll play this game. It was the exposure of skin. It was what was being visible, what was being seen. Interesting, because that night millions of people wore an outfit like that and weren't sexually assaulted. Which means it could have nothing to do with clothing. It had to be the person who chose to act on that visual that they created for themselves and made a choice to commit sexual assault. Because how'd all the other people wearing those clothes that night get— not get sexually assaulted? Because it wasn't the clothes. It wasn't the skin.