Krista Ford, ex-lingerie football player, tells women ‘don’t dress like a whore’
SlutWalkers in action. New York City’s Union Square, October 2011.
A Toronto woman with controversial advice for avoiding sexual assault has apologized for a tweet that suggested women “walk tall, carry mace … and don’t dress like a whore.”
The woman in question, Krista Ford, is a former Lingerie Football League player and the mayor’s niece.
After city police held a news conference Wednesday warning women about a string of sexual assaults in July and August, Ford sent out her tweet, which has since been removed.
“Stay alert, walk tall, carry mace, take self-defence classes & don’t dress like a whore,” Ford wrote with “#DontBeAVictim” and “#StreetSmart,” The Toronto Star reported.
Ford, also the daughter of a Toronto city councillor, describes herself as a personal trainer, model and TV personality.
She played with the Toronto Triumph in the LFL for a brief time, but quit last October.
Ford sent a follow-up tweet today, saying: “I didn’t mean to cause such an alarm and I apologize if I did. I just want women to be safe,” CTV News said.
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Still, her earlier comments angered a city that’s endured similar, dicey advice.
A Toronto police officer suggested women who dress like “sluts” should be careful.
At a local university in January 2011, Const. Michael Sanguinetti said “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” CBC reported.
Sanguinetti later apologized, but it spawned “SlutWalks” across the globe.
Slut Walk Toronto issued a news release that called Ford’s comments “problematic.”
“What Krista said was problematic for many reasons, including placing the onus for preventing sexual assault on a potential victim, pointing to clothes as a reason or inciting factor of sexual assault (time and time again proven to be untrue), and shaming survivors with ‘don't dress like a whore,’” the statement read, according to CBC.
“When anyone says that ‘dressing like a whore’ makes someone liable to be raped, they’re blaming existing survivors for their own victimization.”
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