Marriott retracts victim-blaming defense in Connecticut rape case

After the madness that was Marriott’s victim-blaming bullshit towards a rape survivor who was sexually assaulted in their hotel garage in Connecticut, we find (sort of) good news about the case:

The Marriott hotel chain on Monday abandoned its legal claim that a Connecticut woman raped at gunpoint in a hotel parking garage, in front of her young children, had been careless and was partly at fault.
The withdrawal followed days of backlash against Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc., which had claimed in its defense of a lawsuit by the woman that she had “failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities.” (Emphasis mine)

The statement given by the Marriott says they are “profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime” and that the lawsuit has “created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect” for victims of violence. Blaming a rape survivor for her assault? That’s no mistaken impression of disrespect, but a certainty.
Many are also saying (and I concur) that the damage has already been done. Although it’s obviously good that they’re not using this horrific defense anymore, what kind of message has already been put out there? Nancy Kushins, executive director of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, contended,

“The fear of being blamed for being raped is one of the most common reasons that victims of sexual assault don’t come forward.”

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