By Harper Bergquist, Intuitive Writing Project student

She was wearing a cotton t-shirt. It was gray, with the emblem of her high school on it. She was dressed in loose jeans, her hair cut short.

She was holding a sign.

“This is what I was wearing,” it said. “Tell me I asked for it. I dare you”.

Rape is the only crime where society blames the victim. The only unjustifiable action that people try to excuse because the girl had bigger hips, or maybe was exposing her stomach.

For some reason women are frequently warned to cover themselves, but men aren’t often enough told that rape is absolutely wrong. And even when we do cover ourselves, we are still at risk of being attacked. But why should we need to worry so much about exposing ourselves? Why do women feel the need to not have their skin showing when walking around school, or the city?

Why?

Because 1 in 6 American women are victims of rape at some point of their lives. And because 97 percent of accused rapists are let off free of charge.

So maybe we do need to wear an anti-rape cloak. But would it change anything?

The author, Harper Bergquist, wrote this article in an Intuitive Writing Project class. She was inspired by British artist Sarah Maple and her picture of the “Anti Rape Cloak.” To find out more about Maple’s work, just click here.