Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta – We all know about "four-letter words" in the English language. Considered profane they've been used for many centuries for cursing. They're called that because they do indeed consist of four letters (duh!).

The most popular four-letter words include slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity and genitalia. They include words such as: s#@t, c#@t, d#@k, c#@p,... and of course, the most popular of them all, f#@k. All are usually considered unprintable (especially in the esteemed The Jakarta Post).

But now I've found another four-letter "f" word that's completely printable: Foke! This, of course, is the popular nickname of Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo.

Unlike the other four-letter words, "Foke" has been printed a lot lately, thanks to some truly Foke-d remarks he made regarding a recent spike in sexual harassment and rape cases, many carried out in buses and angkot (minivans used for city transport).

Foke unhelpfully suggested that "... women in Jakarta and other cities avoid wearing miniskirts when they ride on... minivans, because this could arouse male drivers and passengers," as if the men are not at fault ("Victims blamed for sexual assaults", the Post Sept. 17, 2011).

Great analysis, Foke (in any case, rape is a crime of violence, not of passion). Lucky you're not the governor of Aceh. You'd have been hard-pressed to explain the gang rape of a young female student by the Wilayatul Hisbah sharia police in January 2010. She wasn't wearing a miniskirt – women in Aceh are only allowed to wear loose-fitting Islamic clothes, complete with jilbab (headscarf). And the scene of the rape? At the police detention center on a Friday, the Muslim "day for goodness", when prayers are mandatory across the province.

And how about the tragic case of Livia Pavita Soelistio, the Bina Nusantara (Binus) student, who was raped and brutally murdered in mid-August this year, on her way home in public transport from a campus exam?

Was she wearing sexy clothes to persuade her examiners to give her a pass mark? Nope: she was a top-notch student and not prone to wearing revealing clothes – but that didn't save her, did it Foke?

"Rape", of course, is a four-letter word too. When Constable Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto police officer, did a Foke on Jan. 24, this year, suggesting that, "women should avoid dressing like sluts" to avoid rape, women appropriated yet another four-letter word in response: "slut".

But they decided to give this four-letter word their own meaning. To claim rights over their own bodies, they organized protest marches called "SlutWalks", dressed in revealing, sexy clothes.

The first, initiated by five women in Toronto, took place on April 3, 2011. Now it's gone viral, with other walks planned in 75 cities in countries from Canada and the US, to Sweden, South Africa and India.

Now even Indonesia has a SlutWalk, a march that took place at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Jakarta on Sept. 18 (see the Post Sept. 19, 2011). Called Aksi Perempuan Menolak Perkosaan (Alliance of Women Rejecting Rape), organizers called on women to wear whatever they wanted: pyjamas, office clothes, sports clothes – and, yes, miniskirts too.

According to Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing.com, "in just a few months, SlutWalks have become the most successful feminist action of the past 20 years." Participants around the world are attacking a dangerous myth that feminists have tried to debunk for decades: that women's clothing determines whether they'll be raped.

They are showing that singling out the way women dress is akin to racial profiling – using a person's race or ethnicity as a key factor in identifying him or her as a cause of criminal activity. This is common in the US, as Michael Moore shows in his film "The Awful Truth". He demonstrates that cops shoot blacks when they pull out their wallet because for some reason they see wallets in black hands (like chocolate bars, keys and even hairclips) as... guns.

You're black, you're bad. Likewise, you wear sexy clothes, you're asking to be raped.

But the truth is that clothes have nothing to do with it. Rape victims include women of all sorts, in all sorts of outfits: young girls, pregnant women and old grandmas.

Even nuns, who wear costumes similar to those worn by Acehnese women, aren't safe. In 1945, 182 Catholic nuns in Silesia were raped by Red Army soldiers and the Catholic Church in Rome admitted in 2001 that priests from at least 23 countries have preyed (sic!) on nuns.

Some abuses allegedly took place almost within the walls of the Vatican. The point is that the way a woman dresses is not an invitation for rape or any other form of sexual abuse. And when it does happen, the victim should not be blamed for it. "Sudah jatuh, ketimpa tangga pula" (you've fallen off the ladder, then the ladder falls on top of you too).

Like many other men, especially powerful ones, Foke really needs to do his homework. Sure, he apologized, but the fact remains that his initial pronouncement revealed the dirty-minded patriarchal mindset Foke shares with many other men in positions of authority and responsibility.

Maybe Foke should talk to the women in his own family (the Fokers?) and see what they think. I can't imagine what on Ibu Foke (Mother Foke) would have to say.

[The writer (www.juliasuryakusuma.com) is the author of State Ibuism.]