Too often when it comes to sexual assault, the responsibility is unfairly placed on women.
The blame is directed at our choice of clothing, our choice to consume alcohol, our choice to walk alone—almost everything except the assaulter themselves.
Comedian Tracey Ullman is turning this double standard right on its head in the latest episode of her BBC One show, Tracey Ullman's Show.
The clip of the sketch has garnered over 13 million views and 76,000 reactions. You can watch the brilliance for yourself here:
In it, Ullman plays a detective interviewing a well-dressed man who has just been mugged. After he describes what happened, Ullman asks, "Is this what you were wearing when it happened?"
The man is confused as to why this matters. Ullman explains that he appears to be wealthy based on his clothing, so it seems he's inviting muggers to attack him.
She also suggests a change in disposition could have prevented the mugging.
After all, "How is somebody supposed to know that you don't enjoy handing over your possessions if you don't make your intentions clear?"
The sketch is an exaggerated role reversal of the kind of shaming women face after they are attacked, highlighting how senseless these kinds of questions are.
The victim of an assault is never at fault, and it's ridiculous of anyone to assume so.
And as so often is the case, humor might just be the best way to point this out.
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