Court in Peru has declared that a woman who wore red underwear to a party could not have been raped because the colour of her garment signalled she intended to have sex.
According to the local media, the 20-year-old woman said she was drunk and unconscious at a party, then a 22-year-old man, the accused who told her they were going to collect some official documents then he will send her home. However, she awoke naked in his bed the next morning.
The Criminal Court ruled in a rape case that the complainant’s wore a red underwear gave the impression she was ‘prepared or willing’ to have sex with the defendant.
The judges said that the victim was not shy and reserved as she claimed, citing her choice of underwear as evidence and acquitting the defendant. The accused maintains that the allegations are an act of ‘revenge’ against him by the victim.
“The supposed personality represented by her [the victim] (shy) does not relate to the undergarment she used on the day of the incident as this type of women’s underwear is normally used on special occasions leading to moments of intimacy, which gives the impression that the woman prepared or willing to have sexual relations with the accused.” claimed the judge.
The decision, made in the city of Ica on October 29, sparked outrage in Peru, where women having taken to the streets in protest – some with red knickers around their legs.