Oh dear. Of all the unfortunate choice of reader letters to put up, The Straits Times just had to publish this one. But hey, we get it — controversy milks page views.
All things considered, this little op-ed by Benjamin Sim Buke Huang is pretty shitty even by rando standards. Referring to the recent case in which a dental surgeon was jailed for molesting a woman on the MRT, Huang did the one thing he shouldn’t do when talking about anything concerning rape or molestation: Blame the victim.
The reasons given by the convicted molester was that the victim was wearing a racerback top and shorts — attire deemed “too revealing” that apparently didn’t reflect well on the girl’s upbringing. Classic slut shaming.
Huang seems to agree with the slut shaming mentality. Calling the incident a good case for how one should dress in public, he calls for some appropriate dress code in public places. So instead of condemning the actions of a pervert, Huang says women shouldn’t wear shorts if they want to be respected. Classic slut shaming again — and it got published on a national platform, mind you.
Netizens had a field day, of course.
More rebuke on Buke Huang below:
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