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The Runaways’ Jackie Fuchs Criticizes the ‘Dangerous Message’ of Chrissie Hynde’s Rape Comments

The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde drew criticism this past weekend over what some called “victim blaming” comments she made about rape while revealing her own violent sexual assault, which took place when she was 21. Now the Runaways’ Jackie Fuchs, who just recently detailed her own rape at the hands of late manager Kim Fowley in the 1970s, has gone on to further attack Hynde’s quotes, which included an assertion that wearing high heels could “entice a rapist.”

“I found myself being surprisingly angry,” Fuchs explained in an interview with Yahoo Music. “Don’t put your heroes on pedestals. But I don’t want to cast a stone at Chrissie Hynde — just at that one particular statement. Because it’s a really dangerous message.”

She offered a lengthy statement to Yahoo outlining her full feelings. Read that below.

“It bothers me, because I don’t know that she’s gone out there and talked to [other] rape victims. If you had seen the messages that people sent me, so many of them were about ‘I’ve always thought it was my fault.’ We already think that anyway. So this is just telling people who’ve recently gone through this experience of being raped or abused, ‘Yeah, you’re right, it is your fault.’ But there’s no such thing as asking for it. And poor judgment is not an invitation to rape, nor an excuse for it. I know so many women who were raped while they were drunk or high, and they all blame themselves. To say that a woman can’t misjudge how much she’s drinking, or dress in a way that makes her feel good about herself for fear that men aren’t going to be able to control themselves, or that she has to be able to know who is dangerous and who isn’t, is asking an awful lot of men and women — especially young people.”