After the horrifying sexual assault on hordes of women revellers in Cologne on New Year's eve, Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker has asked women to adopt a “code of conduct” to prevent further sexual assaults, which crossed the line into “victim blaming.”
The German Government has also decided to come down hard on those criticising the Muslim immigrants who may have perpetrated them, instead of taking on those responsible for the attacks.
Two women were reportedly raped by men, who were allegedly of North African and Arab appearance. Not only in Cologne, women in Hamburg and Stuttgart also reported similar attacks.
More than 100 criminal complaints have been filed. So far several dozens have been identified, most of whom were asylum seekers.
Now, code of conduct like avoiding strangers, or don't walk alone at night applies to every crime. But telling women to behave differently — even fearfully — in public places in the middle of the day does amount to victim-blaming.
Also, keeping distance from strangers doesn't mean women are safe. What if there is gang attack?
It appears Germany was more concerned with looking intolerant of asylum seekers than the well-being of female victims.
Instead of addressing the possibility that women have become victims due to these migrants, Germany has opted to take severe measures on anyone speaking ill of the migrants as if they were the real victims and not the women.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to growing pressure to harden her stance on refugees after protesters paraded signs that read: “Rape refugees not welcome”.
“Now all of a sudden we are facing the challenge that refugees are coming to Europe and we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control, that we would like to have,” Merkel said in Mainz on Monday, according to a report on Mirror.co.uk.
One 2015 study commissioned by the Australian government found that women are blamed for aggression they experience, while the same behaviour is considered a “rite of passage” for men, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in November.
