Aren't you just stunned when you hear that? To me, it indicates the speaker has just never really thought through the subject of rape.
Let's just stop now to analyze these issues:
1. First, raping someone and "making a pass" at someone are not even in the same universe. Rape is a felony, a serious crime - not a normal reaction. Guys and girls trying to attract each others' attention and responding to those attempts to grab attention IS normal, and it's not even close to a crime. I would guess the girl who's "dressed that way" has a new outfit and she feels like she looks good in it and would like some attention, but rape hasn't even entered her mind.
2. IF dress causes rape, why do 80-year-old women get raped? What about a 35-year-old prison inmate dressed in an institutional uniform? Or an 8-year-old boy?
3. You've heard this - rape is a crime of power, not a crime of sex. Rape is all about what the attacker wants, not what the victim wants. The attacker wants to conquer and subdue, by choosing the most available victim and the best chance to get by with the crime. Historically, rape has even been used as an act of war - as a way to defeat populations of people. Dress would have very little to do with that type of agenda.
4. To connect dress with rape is to imply the victim deserved to be raped because she shouldn't have dressed "sexy." I'll discuss dress more in a minute, BUT rape is in no fathomable way an equal and just punishment for wearing an outfit your parents wouldn't allow. Sneaking into sexy clothes is not against the law because it doesn't have the potential to destroy another person's life as rape does.
Now I DO have to clarify. Your clothing IS very important - another entire book could be written about it. II Corinthians 5:20 calls Christians "ambassadors for Christ" - His representatives to this world. In the eyes of non-Christians, God's reputation is at stake in how you look and how you act and how you talk. Remember to - "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation (conduct), in charity (love), in spirit, in faith, in purity." (II Timothy 4:12) So you want to dress to glorify Christ. Don't despair, though - there ARE ways to attract the attention of the opposite sex without throwing yourself out of the realm of holiness.
And the next time you hear someone say "she dresses to be raped," here is what you will do. You WILL NOT slap them silly. Instead, you will imagine yourself putting on your kindly, professor-looking, "wise old owl" spectacles, crossing your hands on the table intelligently in front of you, quietly clearing your throat, and CALMLY saying, "Yes, well, have you ever considered this point?" And you will proceed to conduct a mature, civilized debate on the points we have discussed in this post. You will become the brilliant, though GENTLE, great "enlightener."
