She better hope I am successful at avoiding her altogether, because I have found people like that will, without a doubt, say something just as stupid the very next time I see them. And I do hate making scenes in public, but I do … sometimes. Sometimes someone really just has to do it. Not that it does any good, I don’t think, but it does occasionally make me feel better. I’d like to think other people get educated in the process, but I doubt they do. Someone who was so obviously my elder and has had a long, long life in which to learn that rape is not caused by what someone is wearing and to not blame the victim for the crime, isn’t likely to learn anything from anything I have to say. That kind of thinking is set in freaking stone by the time a person is a senior citizen.

:puh:

Oh, to be one of those carefree people who don’t think about what they say. Or maybe not.

That was the first time in my life I’d actually heard someone standing right in front of me saying that. I’d read it, heard it on news shows, and heard about people having said stuff like “Well, did you see how she was dressed?” but never has anyone close enough to spit on said it in my presence. And spitting on her was a thought that crossed my mind too.

I should have said something. I sort of regret not saying something. But … it’s one of my hot button issues, and I knew once I said one thing, she’d say something even more stupid, and then it would have ended up with me foaming at the mouth and being removed from the store or worse. I might email the company and complain a little. As a customer, it put me right off, and the more I have thought about it, the more I think I’ll just keep a list of things I need and drive over to the suburb where the other craft store is when there’s enough on the list to make it worthwhile. My stomach is still turned by the whole encounter, and I am finding myself not really wanting to go back to that store ever.

Both arguments annoy me greatly. Wear what you want and know how you intend to protect yourself. One could even argue that a short skirt makes it easier to kick an attacker in the teeth.