The University of Wisconsin Police Department has updated a campus safety post that raised concerns among critics who said it blamed victims of assaults.
UWPD published a post Tuesday that the department acknowledged in an editor’s note later should have been “phrased better and in a more sensitive nature.”
The original post, which advised students on how not to be targets of attacks, said “a victim looks like a victim” and that “easy prey [can] expect to attract some wolves.” That post’s headline was originally “Shedding the Victim Persona: Staying Safe on Campus,” which UWPD changed yesterday after hearing concerns.
UWPD’s updated post is now titled, “Tools You Can Use: Staying Safe on Campus,” and several of the lines under scrutiny were removed.
Jezebel writer Jia Tolentino slammed the post Tuesday, pointing out that using the word “persona” in the original headline implied “an act: a consciously crafted public image.”
“When the state’s apparatus for physical protection tells you explicitly that victimhood is a ‘persona,’ they suggest a mentality much closer to the criminals they go after than the people they are charged to protect,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/rshill37/status/519998096034766848
"If you present yourself as easy prey, then expect to attract some wolves"?? Oh no @UWMadison This is so sad.
— Sara Goldrick-Rab (@saragoldrickrab) October 8, 2014
UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said he acknowledged how the post could have been misinterpreted, especially with increased focus recently on sexual assaults.
“It was taken out of context, and we’re probably to blame for that,” he said.
The “poorly phrased” line from the post, “a victim looks like a victim,” was referring to the fact that people are often buried in their phone and unaware of their surroundings, Lovicott said.
Lovicott said the post was not directed toward sexual assault but rather crime in general, such as stranger assaults that can range from armed robbery and other “random assaults.” He noted that most sexual assaults usually involve individuals who know each other.
The UWPD editor’s note reads, “It is NEVER a victim’s fault if they find themselves targeted in any crime. Ever.”
The post ends with the phrase, “The attitude of ‘it can’t happen to me’ is the wrong attitude to have. The right attitude is ‘I won’t let it happen to me,'” which still faced criticism on social media.
https://twitter.com/cheesekurutz/status/519924096193540096
Lovicott said this is meant to get across that it can happen to anyone, and by using the tips they provided, prevention may be possible.
