Philosopher B: First of all, this. What do you imply by "protecting" the ones they have power over? (includes screenshot of 6th paragraph–from the bottom)

Philosopher B: Then, most importantly is blaming a victim of rape for being a victim by wearing revealing clothes and being in a secluded corner that might put them in the way of rapists.

Esohe Iyare: Go to the pagaraph on power and responsibility

Esohe Iyare: Blame is only for the efficient cause. Responsibility can be shared by all causes

Philosopher B: Fine. I believe you had this to say about "wearing revealing clothes" because you are a religious person, a Christian.

I have come to understand that Christian teachers have a way of making women feel responsible for being the causes of men's lustful atrocities from books and things that we are taught in church from a tender age.

Esohe Iyare: No actually.

Esohe Iyare: Follow my train of thought with the types of causes

Esohe Iyare: Try to apply the metaphor of the phone

Philosopher B: What I got was that the blame should be on the rapists but that the victims also have a share of the responsibility when they wear revealing clothes and stay in a secluded corner with a rapist.

However, I'll go back to the article and read it again.

Esohe Iyare: It is not your fault if someone steals your phone because you were holding it loosely. But if you do and it's stolen, you sort of made it easier for it to be stolen given what you know about theft

Esohe Iyare: There are différent levels of responsibility. The responsibility of the act is solely on the rapist. But in the responsibility for the circumstance, the victim might have a share

Philosopher B: This exmple is absolutely nothing and no where close enough to be compared to rape. It is still victim blaming. If you don't want to use the word " blame ", then fine. No rape victim under any circumstance should ever share a percentage of responsibility of the terrible act of rape.

Esohe Iyare: a metaphor is only an analogy

Esohe Iyare: THE ACT...I agree

Esohe Iyare: the circumstances, perhaps

Philosopher B: Yeah, but a victim of rape, regardless of the analogy and circumstance, should never share responsibility for being raped.

Esohe Iyare: It's okay if you think so really

Philosopher B: I really think that it's a wonderful thing that people in developed countries have strict laws and formidable organisations that do not condone this line of thought because the impact on victims of rape is destructive and still ends up making the victims feel blamed for something that they should have absolutely no responsibility for.

Esohe Iyare: It's easier for me to seperate act and circumstances, to view thé ways in which some people Can put themselves at risk, and the responsibility that flows from their décision as well

Esohe Iyare: I understand that râpé is a very emotional and traumatic expérience...like I saïd it is not a person's fault that they were raped, but I think it helps when some people come to terms with how they may have put themselves at risk, if they did.

Philosopher B: I don't think it helps.

Esohe Iyare: (Voicenote-edited for coherence) Let me clarify what I meanabout circumstances with a real life example. A girl posted a thread on Twitter where she complained about how she had been wronged by a man she met on Twitter. This Twitter mutual who she had been talking to for months invited her to his home in Ikeja. She agreed and went. When they were alone together, he tried to make sexual moves. She declined and he asked her to leave. She left but didn’t have transport to go home as she had expected he would give her some money. So she had to trek home. The thread was complaining about how she had to trek to Maryland or something.

Many comments on the thread highlighted to her how she had put herself in a very dangerous situation. How she had gone to the house of a man who she had never met before, and didn’t give herself much of a serious escape plan, should he have been a threat, because she was expecting money from the man. Logically, she had put herself in danger, considering what everyone knows about the kind of things that happens in our society. She could have been raped.

When I say it helps when some people come to terms with how they may have put themselves at risk, if they did; I mean that it could be a shield for the future. A kind of way to avoid being in risky or dangerous situations based on past experience. Like I know something extra I can do to do to protect myself now. There is a kind of closure that can come from that.

Each person has a responsibility to themselves to try to be safe.

The rapist should always be the one to bear the blame and punishment. They are always wrong. But in terms of circumstances that people may have contributed to an enabling enbironemt, that is people who have attained the age of reason can, through their decisions, can put themselves at greater risk.

Philosopher B: Perhaps you could have just specified this particular example in the article. This example shouldn't be used as an umbrella to group all " adults within the age of reasoning to take responsibility for being raped". Have you actually spoken with rape victims that told you that it helped them to believe that they were responsible for the circumstances of being raped. The article would have been more substantial if it came from the angle of surveys, asking different rape victims and coming to that conclusion instead of making a quite general statement like that.

Esohe Iyare: In the article, the statement {on circumstances} doesn't exist as a blanket statement that covers all victims

Esohe Iyare: It's quite specific.

Esohe Iyare: It article was an exercise in philosophy and Logic, not a représentation of individual experiences {on the lack of survey data}

Esohe Iyare: I have spoken to quite a number of rape victims, and none of them did anything to contribute to circumstances surrounding their abuse. But I know one person who, although wasnt raped, came to terms with that fact that her actions suggested to an older man that she was sexually interested, even though she fought him off when he tried to initiate sex

Esohe Iyare: She would deliberatly bend in front of him to pick something, anytime she had a short skirt on

Esohe Iyare: She admitted this, it wasnt a forced confession. She wanted to seduce him without it ending in sex but she réalized that séduction involves two people and you are only in control of you.