Charlie Pickering: "The way we talk and think about rape makes women responsible for preventing it."

Week after week he is delivering biting segments on big topics as the host of The Weekly.

On last night’s episode Pickering took on the issues of rape and sexual assault, or rather our victim-blaming, perpetrator-excusing attitudes to sexual violence.

He made a big song and dance about it too, finishing up by introducing a The Supremes-style musical number called “Hey Boy”, performed in front of a giant “Don’t Rape” sign.

He began his analysis by citing a recent survey, which found that as many as one in five Australians agree that a woman is partly responsible for her own rape if she has been drinking.

According to the same survey, one in six of us believe that when a woman says no, she actually means yes.

Pickering argues that the way we think and talk about rape makes women responsible for preventing it:

“When a convenience store is robbed we don’t say, ‘a 7/11 went and got itself robbed — but you know, it was out in the open all night, and did have its goodies on display. And you know, I don’t like to say this, but convenience stores really shouldn’t be hanging around on street corners at all hours,’” he says.

“Yet public awareness campaigns on rape prevention constantly focus on what women should do.”

So, he asks, what if we did stop talking to the potential victims and start talking to the potential perpetrators?

“Yes #notallmen and #notallrapistsaremenandnotallvictimsarewomen, but #allofthemenwhorapewomenaremen, so how about #DONTRAPE.”

Watch the full clip here:

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