After retiring from the Army, the Old Redneck and Sweet Thing lived almost ten years in Bristol, TN-VA. In many respects, it's a great place to live -- low taxes; laid-back; mountains and lakes; Bristol Motor Speedway, the fastest half-mile in the world, home to a lot of fine NASCAR racing; and, best of all, home to REAL country music -- old-time, acoustic "hillbilly" music.
However -- Bristol is located in NE TN - SW VA -- strong Republican country and the true buckle of the Bible Belt. One of the disputes that raged while we lived there was over high school prom scheduling -- the Baptist, holyroller, and snake-handling preachers didn't want schools to schedule proms on Saturday night because the kids would not get up on Sunday morning to go to church.
And now this . . .
BRISTOL, Va. – Nineteen-year-old Keshia Canter handed three burgers, fries and milkshakes to a car-load of Tuesday afternoon customers at the Hi-Lo Burger’s drive-though window. A lady sitting in the backseat leaned forward, between the two men in front, and handed her a leaflet: "Women & Girls" it said across the top.
"Even though nothing is showing, you’re being ungodly," Canter recalled the woman telling her. "You make men want to be sinful."
Canter was wearing boots pulled up over jeans, a pink zebra-print shirt with a black jacket zipped up over it. She has blond hair, dark eye make-up and a little red lip ring. "I just asked if she needed any salt, pepper or ketchup," Canter said. "I mean, how do I respond to that?"
Minutes later, Canter’s mother, Pam Yates, who owns the restaurant, returned from the bank. Canter handed her "Women & Girls" and Yates started reading.
"You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed," it begins. "Have you thought about standing before the true and living God to be judged?"
It continues with one essential theme: The sins of men are, in part, the fault of women, specifically women in tight-fitting clothing. Yates was annoyed. Then she got to a section on page two:
"Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts a men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin," the leaflet states. "By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?"
The hand-out is signed "anonymous."
You can read the full article here (site may take a minute to load):
http://www2.tricities.com/...
On the other hand, there is much to be hopeful about in this article.
First is the reaction of the young woman who was handed the pamphlet -- she wasn't buying it and was disgusted by it.
Then, the reaction from her mother -- Mom was not convinced, either:
Yates was angry.
"What if my daughter had been a rape victim?" she said. "I hope that they never handed this to anyone, especially a young person, who’s been through that and struggles with that daily. And then they get handed something that says they are at fault. I cannot believe that a Christian, someone who walks in God’s shoes, would have made this."
Leaflet in hand, Yates locked eyes with the old man driving the old white car, still parked in the lot, and stormed outside. The car quickly drove away.
The director of the local sexual assault prevention program added another voice of reason:
Sandra G. Rasnake, the sexual assault program director at Bristol’s Crisis Center, . . .
"Wow," she said. "This idea that men don’t have enough self control – and evidently they shouldn’t have to – plays into all the old myths that we’ve tried for years to overcome: Rape happens to 2-year-olds and 92-year-olds, not just attractive young women. How about we hold the person doing the action accountable, whoever it is going against the will and consent of somebody else?"
Rasnake said she confronts similar ideas, although not generally printed and distributed in mass, from the women she talks with daily.
Finally, a local preacher denounced the pamphlet:
The Rev. Bill Houck, pastor of Northstar Christian Church, shared Rasnake’s concerns about the leaflet.
"It is this type of thinking that would cause a woman not to report being raped and to somehow think it is her fault," Houck wrote in an e-mail. "As a Christian, a father and a husband, that is a horrific statement. The rapist is wrong period."
Not much to add except that we still have a LONG way to go. The Old Redneck has one daughter and one granddaughter -- pains me to know they will have to fight this nonsense all their lives as did their mothers and grandmothers.