Spain's anti-rape guide: 1) Close your curtains

8/28/2014

Spain's Interior Ministry has been slammed after it released a series of anti-rape measures for women, including closing the curtains at night to stop peeping toms.

Photo of woman closing curtains: Shutterstock

“It’s a form of scaremongering, it puts the blame on women and it stops them from taking responsibility,” tweeted Socialist Party equality spokeswoman Carmen Montón about the ruling party’s anti-rape advice sheet.

The country’s Interior Ministry has offended many other Spanish citizens with its ‘preventative’ list of points, including “carrying a whistle”, “not writing your first name on your letter box”, “leaving the lights on in more than one room at home so it doesn’t seem like you’re alone” and “not getting into the lift if there’s a stranger”.

Led by the religiously devout Jorge Fernández, Spain’s Ministerio de Interior has been described as “retrograde”, “unbearable” and “insulting” on social media, an overwhelming number of tweets on the advice list arguing it holds women responsible for being the victims of rape.

Former socialist politician Soleded Murillo tweeted: "There's nothing more dangerous than an incompetent government: Close the curtains to stop women from being raped, says Interior Ministry". 

The news comes after police in Malaga arrested five young men aged 17 to 23 for the rape of a young woman on Sunday.

Francisco de la Torre, mayor of the southern Spanish city, has also been criticized for playing down the importance of the crime when stating “there are more than a thousand rapes every year in Spain” and “let’s not give the impression that Malaga is unsafe”. 

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