This topic has been heavily debated in recent years with movements like "free the nipple" and "#metoo" bringing up various issues that surround sexual assault and women's attire.
Last week at Aretha Franklin's funeral, major controversy started after video footage of Ariana Grande's performance clearly showed bishop Charles Ellis moving his fingers onto Ariana's breast.
One side of this argument believes that Ariana was in no way at fault for this, while others believe that what the pastor did was wrong but she could have prevented it by dressing more modestly at a funeral. Some other people believe the groping was an accident entirely and that no sexual assault took place.
Pastor's fingers get uncomfortably close to Ariana's breast at Aretha's funeralVariety on YouTube
The controversy around Aretha's funeral is just a manifestation of how popular this topic is. Thankfully, some expert detectives and criminal psychologists can give us insight about the accuracy of a woman's style of dress correlating to sexual assault. We do know it leads to more cat-calling, but does it make it more likely for a woman to be molested or raped?
Current research and criminal data suggest that the answer is no. Most research suggests men perceive women who dress in sexy attire as more willing to complete sexual activities, but no data suggests that women who dress in revealing clothes are sexually assaulted or raped more often. The Bureau of Justice sexual assault statistics lists common trends between rape and finds that rape victims are usually young women. The likelihood of rape correlates significantly based on age and geographic location of victims, but not their style of attire.
While motive varies based on individual cases of rape, interviews with rapists as well as global cultural analysis suggests that rape is both a psychological and a cultural issue. Rapists display a lack of empathy and have often been victims of abuse before, but societal views seem to have more of an influence. This interview with convicted rapists showed that most of the rapists interviewed, who admitted to rape, did so because they believe all women are seductresses and that they enjoy being raped. Data has also found that men with traditionalist values are more likely to believe in this philosophy.
In fact, rape is more commonly accepted in countries where women dress from head-to-toe.
Psychologist Avigail Moor explains this topic more in-depth and describes how the belief that a woman's appearance can lead to her rape is the logic that is actually directly responsible for many rapes and sexual assaults.
Based on the evidence, it looks like Ariana's mini dress didn't actually cause her to be groped. However, it likely could have been the pastor's beliefs about women that caused the incident.
All in all, if you're looking to prevent yourself from becoming a sexual assault victim, the last thing you should worry about is your clothing. Rather, you will be safer if you stick with a group of people and don't go into secluded areas. Additionally, rape rates are shown to spike when people are intoxicated, so avoid hanging around drunk people you don't know.
