Sexual assault prevention tips guaranteed to work!

I’ve seen this list posted in several places in the last few days, so I’m not sure who originally wrote it. But I do think it nicely reverses the way these email circulars usually pull out a long list of ‘advice’ for women to circumscribe our own behaviour in order to avoid being attacked. Ampersand also posted a link to this post at abyss2hope, particularly aimed at students going off to university for the first time this autumn.

Please distribute this list. Put it up in your place of work, in your university’s library or wherever you think theymight be read:

1. Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.

2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!

3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!

4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.

5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!

6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.

7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.

8. Always be honest with people! Don’t pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.

9. Don’t forget: you can’t have sex with someone unless they are awake!

10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone “on accident” you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

Photo by sijeka*, shared on Flickr using a Creative Commons license