"But, what was she wearing? She was asking for it..."

I decided to do a collage for this project. As I went throughout the women's history course I became appalled about the shame 1920s flappers received for experimenting with their sexuality and beginning to wear less clothing. I saw these women as trailblazers, opening a much different and less restrictive way of life. I did some more research on the backlash flappers faced and I read that mothers were blaming the flappers for their sons' behaviors and that they were "bad influences." This struck another nerve for me and reminded me of the concept of victim blaming in rape cases and posing the question, "but, what was she wearing?" I delve deeper into the styles of women that spanned from the 1920's to the 1970's. I realized that this concept of victim blaming has been a constant in society, even still today. I came across an article that spoke about the evolution of women's bathing suits and I found something disturbing. Women were once "policed" for the length of their bathing suits at public beaches. If they were showing too much skin, they could be sent to jail. So, I decided to create this collage to represent the different styles of different decades with the same societal message, women were being "too revealing." I found some old articles on Chronicling America that made comments in regards to women's clothing and making claims that they dress to "attract" men. Society loves to blame women for their clothing and "provocative" nature that lead to men raping them. What it ultimately comes down to is holding the PERPETRATOR accountable for their actions and never blaming the woman for being raped.