广西大学回应女生安全指南，穿得厚就能防色狼吗？丨Sexual violation nothing with clothing
广西大学日前发布新生安全攻略，要求女生不要穿着暴露。被舆论质疑后，该校工作人员是这么回应的。
Welcoming freshmen this year, Guangxi University, like any other university, issued a notice reminding them to stay safe on the campus. But a particular section of the notice triggered fierce discussions on social networking sites. It asked female students to avoid wearing "revealing" clothes, to cover their backs and waists, and to avoid low-chest shirts. The notice stressed the idea is to ensure female students' safety.
As the suggestion invited ridicule online, the university responded saying the campus cannot compromise on civilized behavior.
It seems the university has a unique understanding of civilized behavior. Being polite and behaving in a proper manner is civilized behavior while being rude or using harsh language constitutes uncivilized behavior. Wearing a low-cut shirt or not covering the waist or back certainly has nothing to do with civilized or uncivilized behavior.
Some argued that the university's sole intention was to better protect female students. No one doubts their good intentions, but it should be stressed that what a female student wears has no cause-result link to sexual violation.
The university officials would have understood that better had they attended a recent exhibition in Belgium titled What were you wearing? Based on the account of students who survived sexual assault, the exhibition showcased clothes they were wearing when the crime took place. A majority of them were fully covered, not exposing at all, and yet it did nothing to deter their violators.
The only reason sexual assaults take place is because the violators fail to control their urges. So when a sexual crime takes place, the fault lies with the violator and not the violated.
It is a good thing that Guangxi University cares about female students' safety. But that cannot be ensured by specifying what female students wear. Instead, arranging more guards on the campus and punishing sexual violators will serve the purpose.
记者：张周项
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