Angela Lansbury has said women should accept some blame for sexual harassment because they “go out of their way to make themselves attractive” to men.
Speaking to Radio Times, the Murder, She Wrote star said that women must ‘own up’ and ‘sometimes take blame’ regarding harassment and abuse.
“There are two sides to this coin. We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive.
And unfortunately it has backfired on us – and this is where we are today.
“We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that. Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”
She continued, “Should women be prepared for this? No, they shouldn’t have to be. There’s no excuse for that. And I think it will stop now – it will have to.
I think a lot of men must be very worried at this point.”
Lansbury, who was made a dame in 2014 for services to Drama, said she had not suffered any harassment during her time as a young actress in Hollywood.
Her comments have been widely condemned on social media and from the charity Rape Crisis England & Wales, who said her comments were ‘unhelpful’.
“It is a deeply unhelpful myth that rape and other forms of sexual violence are caused or ‘provoked’ by women’s sexuality or ‘attractiveness,’” a spokesperson for the charity told the Telegraph.
“Rape is an act of sexual violence, power and control that has little to nothing to do with sexual desire. It is as insulting to men as it is to anyone to suggest they’re unable to take responsibility for their own behaviours and that the way a woman presents herself can cause them to lose control or force them to sexually harass or assault her.
“There is no excuse or mitigation for sexual violence and there is no circumstance in which it’s even partially the victim’s or survivor’s fault.
Until we accept and acknowledge that, it will be very difficult for us as a society to reduce or prevent rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment or sexual abuse.”
