The Pretenders singer, 63, told the Sunday Times that women who dress immodestly and get raped are at fault, and should take responsibility for "putting it out."
The interviewer asked Hynde whether she was taken advantage of because she was vulnerable, to which she answered: "If you play with fire you get burnt. It's not any secret, is it?"
Hynde said that if she now were to be "walking around in my underwear, and I'm drunk" prior to a sexual assault, she would be at fault. "Who else's fault can it be?" she said. "If I'm walking around, and I'm very modestly dressed and I'm keeping to myself, and someone attacks me, then I'd say that's his fault. But if I'm being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who's already unhinged — don't do that. Come on! That's just common sense."
"You know, if you don't want to entice a rapist, don't wear high heels so you can't run from him
Don't hate. She was sexually abused under the threat of violence when she was young, and she thinks it's her fault.
"Technically speaking, however you want to look at it, this was all my doing, and I take full responsibility," Hynde said. "You can't fuck about with people, especially people who wear 'I Heart Rape' and 'On Your Knees' badges. … Those motorcycle gangs, that's what they do."
The reaction to this has been general dismay.
The singer's comments were condemned by the head of the charity Victim Support, who said victims should not blame themselves.
Lucy Hastings, the charity's director, said: "Victims of sexual violence should never feel or be made to feel that they were responsible for the appalling crime they suffered – regardless of circumstances or factors which may have made them particularly vulnerable.
"They should not blame themselves or be blamed for failing to prevent an attack – often they will have been targeted by predatory offenders who are responsible for their actions.
"It is critical that nothing deters victims of sexual violence from coming forward to the police or to independent organisations so they can get the help and support they need."
I'm often struck by how many people involved in the hippie and punk subcultures have completely internalized the inevitability of male violence against women and see women as responsible for it. They must have been hell.
