The poet is Christine Bartlett. She wrote this in early 1970s. The background to the poem is the response of the police to Bartlett's reporting a flasher who targeted her and a friend just after dropping off their children at school. The police blamed them for instigating the sexual assault: it must have been something they did or something they were wearing.
A flasher is a man who's simply quite outside the law
He'll expose himself for all the world its true,
But if you report a flasher, you will very
You will very quickly find
That the press will say the guilty one is you
They'll ask you...
What were you wearing when you saw this man?
Did you invite him to expose his tan?
Smile in passing, leave your coat undone?
You mean to say that sundress, dear, was just for catching sun...
You say "I wore jeans and T-shirt,"
They say "what a sexy sight"
you say "He was wearing NOTHING"
But the press say "thats alright"
we're certain he gave no offence that you did not invite
and we think the guilty one is you!
When you've just been raped at knifepoint
by a very nasty man
who broke down your door to have his evil way
Though your future lies in ruins, just ignore it if you can,
As otherwise you'll hear reporters say,
Now tell me...
What did you wear when he broke down your door?
What did you wear when he broke down your door?
Did you lie quietly on the bathroom floor?
Unprotesting! What, he had a knife!
D'you mean to say you'd rather have been raped than lose your life?!?
Now we do believe your story, its not one that you'd invent
BUt we're quite convinced that his attack was very kindly meant,
By your failure to resist him, he thought he had your consent,
and We think the guilty one is you!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment