This Tracey person is no one and nothing so far as we know. She makes sweeping and unfounded assertions and accusations. It’s really quite silly. Of the two of them, who would you believe?

Interesting data about the time of day is given in the article. Also there is interesting location analysis too. The only one I ever knew who didn’t know her attempted rapist, according to her story, had just parked in a multi-story parking lot at about 10:00am. [She was late for work--no one was around--she wore a pony tail--she wore very skimpy clothing--he used leather gloves.] Surprizingly to me, that fits very close to the article. At the time I heard about it, the time and place seemed odd, but no longer.

By the way, police would not dare to tell women how to dress or cut their hair. The police are not completely stupid. They work for public institutions that are subject to political pressure from fashion-crazy women.

I remember trying to tell some of my smarter female college students how stupid and un-business like their clothing was [when they asked me]. You should have heard them whine. The stupid female students would never ask–they already knew everything–kind of like our Tracey above. Especially these smart students would whine when I gave them a copy of Dress for Success for Women–the only scientific study that had ever been done in the area so far as I know–because then those female students had to change their more stupid behaviors.

You may dream and fantasize that clothing does not matter all you want in rape situtations–but it makes a great deal of difference in many other situations, and there is no scientific reason why it would not matter here.

As safety professionals we need to be sure not to feed into the myths. We need to teach realistic tips and techniques.