© FacebookMadeline Anello-Kitzmiller
Now Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, 20, whose breasts were covered in just glitter when the man grabbed her, has said shaming women for what they wear "promotes rape culture".
Comment: A woman walking around naked in a public space does not have the right to claim that anyone who holds her accountable for what happens to her is promoting rape culture. They are promoting logical outcomes of social behavior. Walking around naked at a music festival full of people imbibing in alcohol and drugs can really only lead to one outcome. For her to think otherwise is just ridiculous logic.
Footage from the Rhythm & Vines festival in Gisbourne, New Zealand, showed Madeline and friend Kiri-Ann Hatfield following the man and repeatedly punching him.
Now in a defiant video blog posted on Facebook, the American-born woman says: "The glitter t**s will be coming back."
Madeline adds: "The problem is not the clothing, stop victim blaming. Comments stating that I was asking for it... are promoting rape culture.
"My lack of clothing is not the problem, the problem is people thinking they have the right to touch my body without consent."
Reiterating comments she made yesterday, she goes on: "My breasts are not sex toys, they are not an invitation."
Comment: When you are walking around a concert with your breasts openly visible, it certainly seems like you are inviting plenty. You don't get to flaunt social norms and then blame people when things don't go the way you liked them. This is very similar to a point that Dave Chappelle made about women dressing scantily when going out to clubs:
Madeline, who says she was harassed throughout the festival, spoke out to say that no one has a right to touch her body, regardless of what she wears.
Comment: Yes, no one has a right to touch her body. But is it really worth getting harassed all day just so you can walk around topless? Seems like she created the situation herself, and now is blaming everyone else for what happened. Seems like more millennial madness - expecting the world to conform to your wants and then blaming it when it doesn't go that way. There's a reason why people don't walk around naked everywhere, especially women.
"I stand by my actions and hope that I've inspired women to feel comfortable in their bodies, no matter how they look," she told Daily Mail Australia.
She added: "He grabbed my breast. I hit him. There was a lot of built-up anger coming from harassment throughout the day. This happens everywhere, not just New Zealand.
"A human's body is their own, and nobody has a right to touch you without your consent, regardless of what they're wearing."
The invasion of her body did not stop Madeline from having a good time at the New Year's Eve event and she did not cover up her breasts.
Worryingly, she says she was abused by both male and female festival-goers the day before the incident, when she was wearing a t-shirt.
Her boyfriend praised Madeline on Facebook, sharing a photo of the happy couple alongside the caption: "You are such an inspiration and the most bad-ass girl I've ever met, love you!"
Reader Comments
but it was such fun!
to my knowledge.. none of them were ever treated badly. they were Women, free to be Women.
back then. the men would protect the drunk chicky-doos of this type. and just let them be themselves.
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Servaline : what a crap comment ! To suggest someone should get raped somewhere, whether in Yemen or in Disneyland, is ALWAYS a wrong comment. Walking bare chested is not a body language, by the way.
As for the 70ies being so safe for women to run around naked (which HVACTech nostalgically brought up), Robert K. Ressler reported in his book " Whoever Fights Monsters ", that the number of violent murders committed on strangers has been increasing since 1960s and it reached 25% in 1980s. The book was published in 1992 but further data is available on the FBI website: in 2011 54.3% of people were killed by someone they knew, which means 46.7% of murder victims were killed by a stranger: [Link]
There are psychos out there regardless of whether a woman thinks she has the right to safely parade with her breasts out in the open. Those psychos are still going to be psychos. And given the increase in stranger crimes, the numbers of such psychos are growing quite rapidly.
I strongly recommend Ressler's book for more data. There are examples of women being brutally raped and killed because they left the door to their house open, which the murderer interpreted as 'asking for it'. So being groped because a man saw her naked boobs is not really the worst case scenario.
Given the above data, is it really reasonable for a woman to assume the entire human population should magically conform to her idea of what other people's response to nudity in public should be like? That's wishful thinking. It's kind of like leaving the house in a bathing suit and flip-flops because you expect it to be warm and sunny. And then you're upset because there's snow outside.
I certainly do not defend a man's right to grope women at will or delegate the responsibility to prevent sexual abuse or harassment to the victim. No. I'm simply pointing out that we are living in a world where such things do happen and therefore it would be a good idea to protect yourself. Even if such protection limits one's freedom to choose one's outfit.
And one more tiny thing, the concept of dressing for the occasion . If you go to a job interview you will wear a formal outfit. If you're going for a run you'll wear sports clothes. You put on your pyjamas before you go to sleep. The question I would like to ask is: what kind of occasion was this woman dressed for?
Furthermore, if I walk around at a music festival with Captain Fantastic hanging out (and covered in glitter, of course ), I would expect 2 things:
1. To possibly be groped and approached for sex because, well, DUH!
2. To definitely be arrested for indecent exposure!
Wash rinse slin..
REPEAT O_o
And yes ant22 ... lol