Here's a piece I wrote about young girls leaving themselves vulnerable to attacks after heavily drinking in nightclubs...There I was, on a Saturday evening, sipping on a bottle of Becks and talking to a couple of my boyfriends’ friends, when it hit me. I had a little epiphany right there in the nightclub amongst a gaggle of sweaty clubbers. I looked around me and became acutely aware of the situation. I was surrounded by clowns. They wore scary make-up, fluffy tangled hair extensions, ridiculous shoes and clothes that didn’t fit. And these were the girls, NOT in fancy dress. I was literally appalled. It was like watching an episode of Sex in the City but all the women were under 21 and falling out of their dresses. I’ve seen it before. I wasn't unfamiliar with the place, in fact it’s one of my favourites because I appreciate the ‘cheese room’. But that was before I’d been in the VIP section.
It was my boyfriend’s birthday and we’d managed to blag our way into the VIP lounge without having to queue. We arrived early and were pleased to find a space at the bar, but it wasn’t long before we were joined by the rabble. As the first fancy dress birthday party stumbled through the doors we all smirked and pointed out the best efforts. I liked their costumes. They were all dressed as geeks. The girls had made a real effort with their long pleated skirts, thick rimmed classes, pumps and bunches. As we looked on, they came to the bar in fours or fives and knocked back one strong smelling shot after another. We cringed for them, and their stomachs as they winced and spluttered after each one. I looked at my watch; it was only 10pm.
When the next fancy dress team arrived, I was less impressed. This girl only clan were wearing lingerie. Before I put my boyfriend’s eyes back in his skull, I began to really look at them. Most of them could pull off the French knickers, corset and stockings very well. Legs stacked on 5 inch heels looked long and shapely, waists were cinched in and breasts pushed up and together. Complete with fake tan, tt looked like they had all come back from two months in the Caribbean, although orange streaks around the neck and wrists betrayed a couple of them. They looked very glamorous...and very naked. I couldn’t work out if was horrified or just jealous. When I saw one of the girls bend over to reveal cleavage of another kind, I decided I was the former.
They were heavily intoxicated, but decided to order another three bottles of cheap wine at the bar. What was wrong with these girls? What happened to a good old school girl outfit? At least then your bottom was in no danger of escaping in public. They must have been looking at tabloid pictures of Jodie Marsh for inspiration. Dressing like that was not only undignified, it was irresponsible. Getting drunk, dressed like an expensive escort in a nightclub full of hungry eyed, equally drunk men is not smart.
As the night progressed, the manager piped clone after clone of dizzy, bronzed beauties through to the VIP lounge. When the lingerie party girls ran out of funds for booze they started kissing each other to impress the bar men who were more than happy to ply them with free alcohol. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, are girls like that really just asking for it?
In Britain, a rape of a female is reported every 34 minutes, but in only 6.5% of those cases which are reported is the rapist actually convicted. Why? Most of the time, it is due to women feeling too embarrassed to come forward. Other times it is because of a lack of evidence, or witnesses and sometimes it is simply because the victim cannot remember what happened due to high levels of recreational drug or alcohol consumption.
In these cases the rapist’s job is half done. He no longer needs to slip the girl Rohipnol in order to render her unconscious, she’ll already be lying face down in her own alcohol induced vomit. A solicitor who claimed she was raped by 26 year old chef, Kevin Bacon, lost her case on March 26th 2009 because she couldn’t prove that she hadn’t given consent. Why? Because she was too drunk. Blood samples taken from her showed the she would have been at least twice the drink-drive limit before she invited the alleged attacker round to her house to ‘share a bottle of wine’.
What message are we sending the male population, when we are offering them everything they want up front? We might as well have carefully crammed ourselves into a delectable takeaway kebab container, with the label EAT ME slapped on the polystyrene lid. Engage us in mild flirtation and plenty of tequila shots and we’re won over. I don’t think so. On March 13th 2009 John Worboys was convicted of 19 charges of drugging and assaulting 12 female passengers. He preyed on lone female passengers coming out of nightclubs or bars, in the London area. Sex offenders are born out of the society’s willingness to look at women as pieces of meat. Women in nightclubs nationwide think they are exploiting men when they use their sexuality to get them free drinks, expensive dinners, or VIP access. But they are exploiting and endangering themselves in the process.
The whole night had been exhausting. The bar men were distracted by the faux lesbian playmates so we had to wait ages to get served and the smell of alcohol and body odour was making me feel sick. As we walked away from the club to my boyfriend’s car, I was not surprised to see a corseted lovely bent double, puking her brains out into a drain while her goose pimpled girl friend held her hair back for her. I only hoped that instead of accepting a lift off a man she'd only just met, she had the sense to call her mum to pick her up.
