It has been a while. My rage-o-metre has been pretty low in recent days and weeks. I have been serene. Cruising along the path of life not worrying about things – certainly with regards to politics. However I saw Brentwood Lib Dems tweeting ferociously this morning about disassociating themselves with the comments of a fellow councillor so I did some investigating. When I say did some investigating I meant clicked on the link where a Brentwood councillor had made some shall we say ‘interesting’ comments.
Cllr Chris Hossack, who is a Conservative councillor on Brentwood Borough Council has had an idea that would help keep young women out of danger on nights out, which I think we’ll all agree is something that sounds great. However looking at his actual idea and I think it is fair to say I’m rather skeptical and in all honesty it might actually instead of resolving the issue would escalate the danger young women have.
His idea is for local taxi firms to give cheap fares home to scantily clad women. Yes you heard that right. If you are looking extremely sexy then taxi drivers should give you cheaper fares home in an effort to stop young women (and I suppose older women) from deciding the taxi isn’t good value for money and walking home instead. Now in a way its an idea that has some merit but the moment you scratch beyond the surface it is a horrendous idea.
He blames it in part on TOWIE and that culture but women have a right to wear whatever they like on a night out. He blames Amy Childs for basically making her living off of her looks. I mean is he for real? If I was an attractive young man who abs and a body and face to die for do you think I’d have a job sitting at a PC all day? I doubt it somewhat. People are free to live their lives lives however they see fit and if she has decided to use her looks to help build u a brand and a career then good for her.
Going back to the councillor and who decides what should be deemed as being ‘provocatively dressed’ as he puts it. Do taxi drivers come out and measure the length of skirts above the knee to decide what kind of discount these women should get? That is just lunacy and also would taxi drivers choose not to pick up young women because they know they wouldn’t get as much money for their time?
The other part of this that really troubles me if this doesn’t actually get to the heart of the problem. If women knew they would get cheaper lifts home then would they dress even more ‘proactively’ as he put it? The issue is women (and men) should be able to dress however they like. Just because a woman has a short skirt and low cut top doesn’t mean they are more open to advances and the like. The issue at hand is about ensuring that people have a safe night out and are able to travel home safely no matter how they are dressed. I’m fairly sure that sexual predators don’t just look at clothes in deciding who they are going to attack, they look at opportunity.
Cllr. Chris Hossack is looking at a real issue but his idea just doesn’t tackle the issue in any sort of way that would solve the problem. Instead it would create more problems and would in fact be making a definition that there is a difference between women who wear short skirts and/or low-cut tops compared to those who don’t and personally speaking I think that is an extremely dangerous road to go down…
