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Op-Ed: Chrissie Hynde — Comments were wrong, condemn them, not a victim

Born Christine Ellen Hynde in Akron, Ohio on September 7, 1951, the singer, now known as Chrissie Hynde, has had something of a colourful life. From humble beginnings in suburban Ohio to international rock star, she has lived a life that she now regrets.

I think of one last question: given the chance, would she do it all again? “Definitely not. Absolutely not. I would get rid of a lot of the drugs and debauchery and alcohol, all the stuff that led to misery. And with my parents… mine were so far away and I’m sorry about that now. That’s the one thing that’s different about my story. Everyone else says ‘I don’t regret anything’. You know what? I regret all of it.”

In an interview with The Sunday Times about her new book Reckless – My Life as a Pretender Chrissie Hynde is very forthright about her life, detailing her early years hanging out with heroin addicts in New York and then arriving in London in 1973. She talks about her near marriage to Sid Vicious, her dreadful relationship with Ray Davies, her marriage to Jim Kerr and a host of other events which have shaped her life.

She also talks about when she was sexually assaulted at the age of 21. While under the influence of Quaaludes, she came to the attention of one of Ohio’s motorcycle gangs. They promised Chrissie that they would take her to a party but instead took her to an empty house and sexually assaulted her under the threat of violence.

This is what Chrissie told The Sunday Times:

“Now, let me assure you,” she writes, “that, technically speaking, however you want to look at it, this was all my doing and I take full responsibility. You can’t f*** about with people, especially people who wear ‘I Heart Rape’ and ‘On Your Knees’ badges.”

It was distressing to read, I begin to say.

“Yeah, but those motorcycle gangs, that’s what they do.”

But to blame yourself, even now?

“Of course. Because you can’t paint yourself into a corner and then say whose brush is this? You have to take responsibility. I mean, I was naive…”

Exactly! Naive and vulnerable and they took advantage of that…

“They’re motorcycle guys! If you play with fire you get burnt. It’s not any secret, is it?”

A frank discussion about rape and responsibility ensues. I’m shocked to hear Hynde say that she thinks, as a woman, if you walk down the street drunk and provocatively dressed, then you can’t complain if you end up in trouble. She is similarly shocked that I don’t agree.

“If I’m walking around in my underwear and I’m drunk? Who else’s fault can it be?”

Er, the guy who attacks you?

“Oh, come on! That’s just silly. If I’m walking around and I’m very modestly dressed and I’m keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I’d say that’s his fault. But if I’m being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who’s already unhinged — don’t do that. Come on! That’s just common sense. You know, if you don’t want to entice a rapist, don’t wear high heels so you can’t run from him. If you’re wearing something that says ‘Come and f*** me’, you’d better be good on your feet… I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial am I?”

Social media has lit itself up. I put the words “Chrissie Hynde” in to the Twitter search function and literally thousands of tweets came back, more being added every second, it feels like.

The majority of these tweets have condemned her comments and I have to agree, they don’t look good. In fact, they look terrible — they look like Chrissie Hynde is saying that sexual assault is not a crime if the women/girl welcomes it in what they wear and whether or not they are high or drunk.

To that I will say, I don’t wear provocative clothing but I do like to have a good drink with friends and, yes, be on the wrong side of tipsy, but I don’t expect to get sexually assaulted and I don’t expect that if I was that people would blame me because I was incapacitated by alcohol.

Let’s get one thing straight, sexual assault is never the fault of the victim. It doesn’t matter what you wear, whether you are high or drunk, you are not “asking for it.”

I’ve read Chrissie’s comments over and over and every time I do I’m beginning to think we are wrong to condemn her — her words, yes, but not her. This is a woman who was sexually assaulted by a gang of men who deliberately set out sexually assault someone and Chrissie, unfortunately, was the one who was there. She is, and has been, the victim of a sexual assault for 42 years.

I don’t know the extent of help that Chrissie got after being assaulted but I’m willing to guess it wasn’t very much and she was probably blamed back then because she was high and dressed in a certain way. So Chrissie doesn’t believe she is a victim and believes it is her fault that she was assaulted.

Should we really be taking to Twitter to tell her she’s disgusting or any other of the insults I’ve seen flying her way? She blames herself, she has her mind set on why it happened and for 42 years she has believed this. Her way of thinking about the incident is distorted which leads her to make the comments she did.

Her words are wrong and dreadful to read but what I see is not just a woman making flippant remarks in an interview but a woman who was led to believe that she was sexually assaulted because of her own behaviour, no one told her different and let her believe that. It sticks.

One thing to remember is, a rapist will rape regardless of what a person is wearing or doing.

As for Chrissie Hynde, I don’t like what she said but I can see why she believes it.

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