The offenders put out a piece in the UK's Daily Telegraph suggesting that wearing provocative clothing makes women more likely to be raped. Only now, it's not just a nervous elderly relative or skeezy Bill O'Reilly saying it, but 'scientists.' As Goldacre was able to gather from talking to the dissertation candidate involved, her research showed nothing of the kind and the conclusion in the headline wasn't going to be reported as a finding because the evidence didn't support it.
But who wants to let facts and evidence get in the way of a little harmless slut-shaming?
Indeed, the research the paper was supposed to be reporting on seems not to have been focused on criminal behavior, and the researcher herself says that the survey structure wouldn't likely be suitable for answering the question assumed by the news article. But there has been research done on what marks people out for being crime victims, conducted by observing the responses of actual criminals, and the conclusions were very different than the prejudice-laden assumptions of the Daily Mail article.
