Chrissie Hynde: 'I don’t know’ if I regret saying rape can be a woman’s fault
Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde has elaborated on her recent controversial remarks on rape,
saying she ‘doesn’t know’ whether she regrets stating that it can be a
woman’s fault when she is raped. Hynde, a survivor of sexual assault,
followed up on her comments that “if you play with fire, you get burnt.”
“If you don’t want my opinion, don’t ask me for it,” she told the Washington Post, referring to the outcry that followed her comments on rape in a Sunday Times magazine interview on 30 August. In that interview Hynde had said she takes full responsibility for a sexual assault that occurred when she was 21, and was forced by members of a motorcycle gang to commit sexual acts under the threat of violence.
Hynde told the Washington post that ‘most people aren’t as stupid as her’. “I’m not saying I was asking for it,” she said. “It wasn’t the same as walking down a street in the middle of a nice evening and somebody dragging you into a bush with a knife in your throat.”
Hynde went on to suggest that the reaction to her comments was overblown, in relation to other issues on the news agenda. “At the moment, we’re in one of the worst humanitarian crises in our lifetime,” she said, referring to the current refugee crisis in Europe. “We’re talking about millions of displaced persons and people whose families have been destroyed and we’re talking about comments that I allegedly made about girls in their underwear.”
After her initial comments were published, Hynde was further criticised by former Runaways bassist Jackie Fuchs. Fuchs called Hynde’s statement dangerous, saying it was likely to lead rape survivors to blame themselves for being attacked or abused. Hynde told the Washington Post that her critics were “entitled to say whatever they want”, and that she has not thought much about the Sunday Times interview since giving it.
“I’m not a philosopher,” she said. “I’m just a rock singer. And now a leading authority on rape.”
“If you don’t want my opinion, don’t ask me for it,” she told the Washington Post, referring to the outcry that followed her comments on rape in a Sunday Times magazine interview on 30 August. In that interview Hynde had said she takes full responsibility for a sexual assault that occurred when she was 21, and was forced by members of a motorcycle gang to commit sexual acts under the threat of violence.
Hynde told the Washington post that ‘most people aren’t as stupid as her’. “I’m not saying I was asking for it,” she said. “It wasn’t the same as walking down a street in the middle of a nice evening and somebody dragging you into a bush with a knife in your throat.”
Hynde went on to suggest that the reaction to her comments was overblown, in relation to other issues on the news agenda. “At the moment, we’re in one of the worst humanitarian crises in our lifetime,” she said, referring to the current refugee crisis in Europe. “We’re talking about millions of displaced persons and people whose families have been destroyed and we’re talking about comments that I allegedly made about girls in their underwear.”
After her initial comments were published, Hynde was further criticised by former Runaways bassist Jackie Fuchs. Fuchs called Hynde’s statement dangerous, saying it was likely to lead rape survivors to blame themselves for being attacked or abused. Hynde told the Washington Post that her critics were “entitled to say whatever they want”, and that she has not thought much about the Sunday Times interview since giving it.
“I’m not a philosopher,” she said. “I’m just a rock singer. And now a leading authority on rape.”
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