Does sexy clothing justify domestic violence?

The majority of us are thankful to think that the time when a girl could be said to be "asking for it" - "it" being a slap, a beating or rape - because she was wearing a short skirt or talked back, is behind us.
But a new survey conducted for the Home Office shows that one in seven people believe it is acceptable in some circumstances for a man to hit his wife or girlfriend if she is dressed in "sexy or revealing clothes in public".
A similar number believed that it was all right for a man to slap his wife or girlfriend if she is "nagging or constantly moaning at him".
Sadly, it mightn't surprise you to learn that the male and female survey participants over age 65 who, somewhat in their defence, grew up in a different era, believed that a woman should be partly held responsible for being raped or sexually assaulted.
The lower social classes tended to agree and in effect unwittingly encouraged stereotypes and strengthened the class divide just when we thought the walls might be tumbling.
There's so much of this story that needs examination: What are we doing about domestic violence? How reliable are these results? How does the way we deal with rape and domestic assault feed into these values? The list goes on...
However, as this is a Home Office survey, the most pressing question must be: What exactly are the government proposing to do in order to change these archaic attitudes? As surely, without intervention and clear lines drawn, women will continue to be attacked and worse still, feel guilty for 'provoking' the violence towards them.
Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, commented in a recent police review:
"Violence against women and girls is unacceptable in any form no matter what the circumstances are. More needs to be done to challenge attitudes that condoned violence against women and girls."
Outlining an idea being considered by the government she explained that, in the not too distant future, women may be able to ask police if a new partner has a record of domestic violence. A similar scheme which allows women to request information on whether a new partner has a history of child sex abuse is currently underway in four police force areas of England and Wales.
But Ms Smith was shortly accused by veteran domestic violence campaigner Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, of using "gimmicks" and "spin" arguing that government action so far had been "piecemeal" and condemned plans for a database of serial domestic abusers.
"We have had enough talking – we need action. As for the perpetrators' register, it is a gimmick and doesn't address the root problem," she said. "The majority of violent men don't come to the attention of police and it won't keep women safe. Police can't be expected to monitor relationships and love lives of offenders - the government is hoping to get away with useless initiatives like this register and it is hypocritical to sound tough and do little."
One thing is clear. With or without an offenders list some women fall into a pattern of relationships with violent men. Their self-esteem disintegrates with each attack and as this survey shows, in the end they think they deserve everything they get and now know that as a nation, to a large extent, we agree.
Women need to be empowered if they are going to avoid or escape violent relationships and report sex attacks without feeling as if their sexuality or personality is to blame. Still today the majority of rape cases are not reported to police and, even if a woman finds the courage to tell the authorities of her ordeal, only 6% of all reported sex attacks are convicted, a statistic which only goes towards promoting such offences as unpunishable and as such acceptable.
But it's not just women who are painted in a weak and pitiful light by this survey. One issue that is continuously ignored by campaigners, government bodies and Joe public alike is that these opinions regarding domestic violence and rape affords so little power to men.
It assumes they are incapable of controlling themselves around a V-neck jumper; that they can't hold their own in an argument with their partner so they have to roll up their sleeves. This of course is a grossly incorrect image of men in general as spineless, pitiable creatures who are powerless in a world of women but it is very obviously opinion of the participants in the survey who agreed that sexually potent women provoke apparently pathetic men to make these attacks – one can only wonder if they would have changed their answers if they had considered this.
So, the question is this – as women should we be more wary of the clothes we choose and the way we behave in front of men so as not to fuel their anger or violence towards us? Are we partly to blame for attacks if we have been 'asking for it' and where is the line of provocation drawn? Surely men are intelligent beings who know how to behave and can control their feelings and if not for the women who feel they deserve beatings or sexual assaults, then shouldn't the government be looking to change the opinion of the next generation, the children in these homes who grow up believing that a recalcitrant woman just needs a good seeing to, in one way or another? You decide.