Can crime prevention be OK?

In April 2011, Constable Michael Sanguinetti of the Toronto Police Department said that women should "avoid dressing like sluts" so they do not become victims of sexual violence.  This sparked a wave of "Slutwalks" in Canada and the United States, in which protestors object to the "blame the victim" mentality and stake the claim that they should be able to dress however they want, and that society should not say sexual violence is "OK" if the victim is "asking for it."

I'm not saying they're wrong, or that there isn't a societal problem.  But let's not jump all over anyone who tries to offer people tips for how to avoid becoming the victim of a crime.

Constable Sanguinetti is not a great standard-bearer for law enforcement on this one.  He most definitely should not have used the word "slut" in his remarks.  But accusing him of "excusing rape" is sort of missing the point of what he said.  He didn't say, "If you get raped, you were asking for it."  He said something that is generally known across the board--that how you dress, walk, and generally present yourself affects your chances of becoming the victim of a crime.

If I tell people that they should keep their cars and dorm rooms locked, I'm not excusing the crimes of opportunity that might more likely occur if they don't.  If someone steals your radio, that's a crime regardless of whether your car was locked.  If someone walks into your room and pee on your floor (yes, that's a real thing), that's a pretty big deal whether or not your room was secure.  They're not treated any differently.

It would be one thing to tell a woman who had been raped that it was her fault because of how she dressed, but it's another thing entirely, in the context of offering tips on crime prevention, to suggest measures that certain ways of dressing might increase the chances of being raped.  It's up to you what to do with that.  Not unrelatedly, statistics also show that women with long hair are more likely to be raped.  Does saying that mean I'm saying women should not have long hair?  No.  It's just a fact.

We should live in a world where nobody has to fear sexual violence, regardless of how he or she is dressed.  Heck, we should live in a world where nobody has to fear property being stolen, regardless of whether he or she locks his or her car.  But until we do, let's not demonize people who are offering people advice on how to be more secure.