News Station Asks Whether Readers Think Women 'Do Enough' To Ensure They Don't Get Roofied

Sexual assaults linked to date-rape drugs are on the rise in downtown St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, Canada. So news station VOCM posted this query as its regular “Question of the Day” poll: “Do you believe that women and young girls do enough to ensure that they don’t become victims of the “date rape drugs”?”

Optional answers were “Yes,” “No,” and “Not Sure.” Man. That’s a hard one! I’m going to try really hard not to get drugged by a sexual predator when I go out tonight, but how will I know if I’ve tried hard enough? Maybe I shouldn’t leave my house at all! That’ll show those sneaky rapists!

The question apparently didn’t go over so well with VOCM’s audience — after a few hours, the question was replaced with this apology:

The VOCM News Question of the Day on the topic of the Date Rape Drug was, in hindsight, worded in an insensitive manner and has since been removed from our website. It was not the intention of the author of the question to attach blame to females or imply in any way that those who are most often victimized by the use of date rape drugs should change their movements and patterns.

The Question of the Day is one component of our website meant to appeal to the masses, and occasionally we may appear to be insensitive. VOCM assures we make every effort to address each topic raised in our Question of the Day in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

VOCM apologizes to anyone who was offended by today’s question.

When will people learn that apologizing to “anyone who was offended” DOES NOT count as a real apology? Maybe around the same time “the masses” realize that it’s not on women to figure out how not to get drugged and raped.