Agony aunt faces backlash for telling rape victim to be grateful he wore a condom'
She wrote that the reader's behaviour gave the idea that she was 'like a girl who had been around'.
A top teen magazine in Singapore is being fiercely criticised over the advice that the agony aunt of its ‘Dear Kelly’ section gave to a rape victim. Kelly Chopard, who writes an advice column for Teenage magazine, told a reader who wrote to her about an alleged sexual assault her behaviour gave the idea that she was “like a girl who had been around” and should be “grateful he wore a condom”.
The controversy erupted when the magazine published a reader’s letter in the ‘Dear Kelly’ column under the title ‘Raped after lying to my mum’. The girl revealed that her date had raped her after she had drunk alcohol for the first time. In response Chopard wrote: "You gave the idea that everything was OK, you accepted wine, then there was the dancing, kissing. You can’t blame him for thinking a sexual connection was all right. Frankly, I understand why the guy misunderstood."
Chopard’s comments have angered many of the magazine’s readers who have accused the writer and the magazine of promoting a culture of victim-blaming. They also say that the way she addressed the topic was insensitive and completely unprofessional.
Teenage magazine took to their Facebook page in defense of their columnist and wrote: