An Oxford shirt, chinos and boots; a hooded sweatshirt, jeans and a Beatles cap; a brown shirt with green frogs on it; a terry cloth, multi-coloured short set and matching jellies; jeans, some Nikes and a white T-shirt. No, this isn’t sample copy from a street-style blog – it’s a list on Twitter of what women were wearing when they were sexually assaulted, which they shared to help dispel the myth that sexual assault only happens to women who wear certain types of clothing.
It came about after Twitter user @Steenfox – real name Christine Fox – found herself having an online argument with someone who insisted that women who wear revealing clothes are in some way contributing to their sexual assault. Instead of continuing the debate with this (let’s face it, completely ignorant) Twitter user, Christine decided to put his theory to the test by asking her followers if they’d share what they were wearing when they were assaulted.
The response was mind blowing and Christine has been inundated with people sharing their harrowing stories of being sexually assaulted while wearing anything from a ball-gown to tracksuit bottoms, to a T-shirt and no makeup. The women who shared their stories would rather we didn't reproduce their tweets here, but if you look at @Steenfox you can see their individual stories. It makes for sad reading, but highlights how misguided and outdated some perceptions of rape and sexual assault really are.
**Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane **
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.