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Indonesian feminists: ’Don’t blame the victim!’

Monday 3 October 2011, by Vivi Widyawati, Zely Ariane

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Around 100 women and men took part in a rally named Mini Skirt Protest - Women against Rape at Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, Thamrin, Jakarta, on Sunday September 18th 2011. Dozens of women, including several activists from Perempuan Mahardhika, wore miniskirts, as a statement that rape has nothing to do with the way women dress.

The demonstration was a protest against the reaction of Jakarta’s Governor Fauzi Bowo (nicknamed Foke) to the recent case of a young female student, Livia, who had been raped and killed in a public transport. He said: “Imagine if someone sits on board of a mikrolet (minivan) wearing a mini-skirt, you would get a bit turned on”. Women, he said, “must adjust to their environment so that they don’t provoke people into committing unwanted acts”.

Read more on the comrades’ blog.