Professional Documents
Culture Documents
December 1993
Sharron J. Lennon
Recommended Citation
Theresa L. Lennon, Sharron J. Lennon & Kim K. Johnson, Is Clothing Probative of Attitude or Intent -
Implications for Rape and Sexual Harassment Cases, 11(2) LAW & INEQ. 391 (1993).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/lawineq/vol11/iss2/3
Theresa L. Lennon*
Sharron J. Lennon"
Kim KIP. Johnson***
Introduction
"She asked for it. The way she was dressed with that skirt you
could see everything she had. She was advertising for sex."1 "We
felt she was up to no good [by] the way she dressed."2 "She was
obviously dressed for a good time, but we felt she may have bit off
more than she could chew." 3 These words were spoken by jurors
who reached a unanimous verdict, acquitting a man of charges of
kidnapping and sexual assault in a 1989 Florida case. 4 The jurors
were referring to the clothing the alleged victim wore at the time of
* J.D. 1993, University of Minnesota Law School; B.A. 1989 in Philosophy, In-
diana University. Associate with the law firm of Gassett, Perry, & Frank, San Jos6,
California.
** Ph.D. 1982 in Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University; M.A.
1971 in Mathematics, Miami University of Ohio; B.A. 1969 in Mathematics, St. Jo-
seph's College. Associate Professor in the Textiles and Clothing Department at The
Ohio State University.
*** Ph.D. 1984 in Textiles and Design, University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.S.
1980 in Textiles and Clothing, University of Wisconsin-Madison; B.S. 1977 in Psy-
chology/Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Assistant Professor in the
Design, Housing and Apparel Department at the University of Minnesota.
1. Jury: Woman in Rape Case Asked For It' TIE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, North
Sports Final Edition, Oct. 6, 1989 [hereinafter Jury). Juror Roy Diamond, who made
this statement, has since stated that the words quoted were misinterpreted. Rape-
Add-#-9 UPI, Dec. 14, 1989, available in LEXIS, Nexis Library, UPI Files [herein-
after Rape-Add-#-9]. "It meant sex, not rape. People heard it and they just took it
for the worst... if a woman goes out at 3 a.m. in that kind of a skirt, she is advertis-
ing for sex, and she got what she advertised for." Id. Diamond further explained
that the outfit "was a factor" in the verdict, but not the determining factor. Id. Ap-
parently, the defense argued at trial that the complainant was a prostitute, and Dia-
mond explained that the jurors were persuaded at least in part by her clothing that
she was. Id.
2. Man Acquitted of Rape in FloridaConvicted in Georgia UNITED PRESS INTER-
NATIONAL, Mar. 30, 1990 (quoting juror Dean Medeiros) [hereinafter Man Acquitted].
3. Jury, supra note 1 at 11 (quoting juror Mary Bradshaw).
4. Id.
Law and Inequality [Vol. 11:391
5. Id.
6. An April, 1990, survey by the Gannett News Service revealed that almost
one in three people in the U.S. believe that the behavior or dress of a rape victim can
contribute to attacks. Elizabeth Snead, Do Women's Clothes Invite Rape?, USA To-
DAY, Apr. 19, 1990, at 6D. Most people who hold this view reported they had never
personally known a rape victim. Id. Men and people over 55 were more likely than
others to attribute some blame to the victim. Id.
7. See infra part I.
8. See infra notes 11-57 and accompanying text.
9. See infra part II.
10. Evidence is probative if it can help prove or disprove a fact that is of conse-
quence to the litigation. In a rape or sexual harassment case, the victim's attitude or
intent may be a material issue of consequence to the litigation. But clothing should
not be used as evidence of that attitude or intent because it is not probative. Be-
cause clothing has no probative value in showing attitude or intent, it is not rele-
vant. Because it is not relevant to the question of the wearer's attitude or intent, it
should be inadmissible in a criminal prosecution if offered for that purpose.
1993] IMPLICATIONS OF CLOTHING
11. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Charlene Carres testified before the
Florida House of Representatives that evidence of a victim's dress is consistently
introduced at sexual battery trials. Barbara Fromm, Sexual Battery: Mixed-Signal
Legislation Reveals Need for FurtherReform, 18 FLA. ST. U. L. REv. 579, 587 (1991).
There are not, however, any statistics available to show how often a victim's dress is
introduced. Because evidence is introduced at the trial court level, and because the
transcripts from those courts are not easily accessible, it is not clear how often cloth-
ing has been introduced to show consent. Unless the trial court decision to admit the
clothing is appealed and an appellate record is created, the information may not be
available. Thus, it is difficult to be sure, based solely on appellate court opinions,
how often clothing has been introduced to show consent.
12. Montana v. Smith, 576 P.2d 1110 (Mont. 1978).
13. Id. at 1111.
14. Id. at 1110-11.
15. Ford v. State, 376 S.E.2d 418, 419 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988). The trial court ruled
that the proffered in camera evidence was inadmissible under the state rape shield
law. Id. The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court ruling. Id.
16. See, e.g., Jury Blames Woman's Clothing in Rape Case, UPI, October 5, 1989,
available in LEXIS, Nexis Library, UPI File; Rape Victim to Blame, Says Jury, THE
DAmLY TELEGRAPH, October 6, 1989 at 3; Jury, supra note 1; Rape-Add-#-9, supra
note 1; Man Acquitted, supra note 2; Women Under Assault, NEWSWEEK, July 16,
1990 at 23.
Law and Inequality [Vol. 11:391
2. Statutes
Federal and most state statutes do not explicitly address the
admissibility of clothing of a rape or sexual assault complainant as
evidence. In these jurisdictions, if such evidence were introduced, it
would be admitted pursuant to the governing rules of evidence.
Most states adhere to rules similar to the Federal Rules of Ev-
idence. These rules provide that "all relevant evidence is admissi-
17. Id.
18. Rape and Culture:Two JudgesRaise the Question of the Victim's Responsibil-
ity, TIME, Sept. 12, 1977, at 41.
19. Id.
20. Id.
21. Carolyn Pesce, Delicate Bra is Permitted as Evidence, USA TODAY, Oct. 31,
1991, at 3A_
22. Id.
23. Id.
24. Id.
25. Id.
26. Id.
1993] IMPLICATIONS OF CLOTHING
B. Sexual Harassment
1. Caselaw
In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson,46 a female bank employee
brought sexual harassment charges against a bank supervisor.47
She alleged that she had sex with her supervisor over forty times at
his demand, that he fondled her, that he exposed himself to her,
and that he forcibly raped her during her four years working at the
bank.48 The defendant supervisor denied the charges. 49 In his de-
fense, the defendant supervisor introduced "voluminous testimony"
regarding Vinson's manner of dress to show that she welcomed the
alleged advances.50
The judge allowed testimony at trial which indicated that Vin-
son often dressed in revealing clothing, that at least once a bank
customer commented on her clothing, and that once Vinson had to
be sent home from work because the bank considered her dress in-
appropriate.5 1 The District Court permitted the evidence regarding
dress, presumably because it could show whether the sexual atten-
tion was welcome.52 The Court of Appeals reversed, stating that
evidence of Vinson's dress "had no place in this litigation."53
The United States Supreme Court subsequently reversed the
Court of Appeals on the issue of introducing clothing.54 The
Supreme Court held that in deciding "whether respondent by her
conduct indicated that the alleged sexual advances were unwel-
come," the evidence of Vinson's "sexually provocative" dress was
2. Statutes
There are no federal or state statutes that address clothing as
evidence of welcoming sexual advances in a sexual harassment
case. When confronted with this evidence, judges must proceed to
evaluate the evidence in light of its probative value and prejudicial
effect. As demonstrated by the Supreme Court in Meritor, judges
are likely to adhere to the belief that clothing is probative as to
whether the wearer welcomed sexual advances, and thus admit the
evidence.
The Women's Legal Defense Fund ("WLDF"), in its amicus cu-
riae brief to the Supreme Court in the Meritor case, 58 made several
evidentiary arguments to exclude the clothing evidence.5 9 First,
the WLDF argued that the dress evidence was simply irrelevant.
"Vinson [did] not claim that she was offended or intimidated by
Taylor [her supervisor] or other men employed at the branch wear-
ing tightly fitting shirts and pants .... It [was] the environment
created by these actions of the supervisor that are at issue here.
Vinson's taste in clothes and style of dress are not."60 The WLDF
went on to acknowledge that despite any authority on the issue one
way or the other,
any purported justification of this view [that the evidence is rel-
evant] assumes that evidence of dress... can reveal whether a
woman is more or less likely to welcome sexual advances from
her supervisor. A woman's choice of clothing ... [is] no more
relevant to her claim of sexual harassment than a fraud vic-
tim's generosity or extravagance.
The assumption that general aspects of a woman's life
and self-presentation are reliable indicia of her response to any
particular sexual advances requires believing that a woman
who dresses ... in a particular fashion is more likely to want to
have sex with her supervisor than a woman who does not. This
55. Id.
56. Id.
57. Jones v. Wesco Investments, Inc., 846 F.2d 1154, 1155 n.4 (8th Cir. 1988)
(emphasis added).
58. Brief Amicus Curiae of the Women's Legal Defense Fund in support of the.
Respondent, Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477U.S. 57 (1986) (No. 84-1979).
59. Id. at TV.
60. Id. at V.A. (footnote omitted).
400 Law and Inequality [Vol. 11:391
them. G.R. Thornton, The Effect of Wearing Glasses Upon Judgments of Personality
Traits of Persons Seen Briefly, 28 J. APPLIED PSYCH. 203 (1944).
89. Soae Paek, Effect of Garment Style on the Perception of Personal Traits, 5
CLOTHING & TEXrLEs RES. J. 10, 13 (1986).
90. Lynne Richards, Beverly Rollerson, & James Phillips, Perceptionsof Submis-
siveness: Implicationsfor Victimization, 125 J. PSYCHOL. 407, 410 (1992).
91. Buckley & Roach, supra note 87 at 98.
92. Mathes & Kempher, Clothing as a Nonverbal Communicator of Sexual Atti-
tudes and Behavior, 43 PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SiuLLs 495, 496 (1976); G. Zellman &
J. Goldchilds, Becoming Sexual in Adolescence, in CHANGING BOUNDARIES: GENDER
RoLES AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 49-63 (E.R. Aligeier & N.B. McCormick, eds., 1983).
93. Antonia Abbey, Catherine Cozzarelli, Kimberly McLaughlin, & Richard
Harnish, The Effects of Clothingand Sex Dyad Composition on Perception of Sexual
Intent: Do Men and Women Evaluate These Cues Differently? 17 J. APPLIED SOC.
PSYCHOL. 108, 123 (1987).
94. Suresh Kanekar & Maharukh Kolsawalla, Factors Affecting Responsibility
Attributed to a Rape Victim, 113 J. Soc. PSYCHOL. 285 (1981); Roger Terry, Contex-
tual Similarities in Subjective Probabilitiesof Rape and Other Events, 113 J. Soc.
PSYCHOL. 293 (1981).
95. Jacqueline D. Goodchilds & Gail L. Zellman, SEXUAL SIGNALLING AND SEXUAL
AGGREssIoN IN ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS in PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUAL AoGREs-
SION 233, 235-36 (Neil M. Malamuth & Edward Donnerstein, eds. 1984).
96. Id.
97. Id.
98. Id.
1993] IMPLICATIONS OF CLOTHING
99. LaCinda Lewis & Kim Johnson, Effect of Dress, Cosmetics, Sex of Subject,
and Casual Inference on Attribution of Victim Responsibility, 8 CLOTHING & TEX-
TEs REs. J. 22, 23-24 (1989); Kanekar & Kolsawalla, supra note 94; James Scroggs,
Penaltiesfor Rape as a Function of Victim Provocativeness,Damage, and Resistance,
6 J. APPLIED. Soc. PSYCHOL. 360 (1976); Delwin D. Cahoon & Ed M. Edmonds, Esti-
mates of Opposite-Sex First Impressions Related to Females' Clothing Style, 65
PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SILLs 406, 406 (1987).
100. Ed M. Edmonds & Delwin M. Cahoon, Attitudes ConcerningCrimes Related
to Clothing Worn by Female Victims, 24 BULL. PSYCHONOMIC Soc'y 444, 445 (1986).
101. Roger Terry & Suzanne Doerge, Dress, Posture and Setting as Additive Fac-
tors in Subjective Probabilitiesof Rape, 48 PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKiLLs 903, 904
(1979); Terry, supra note 94 at 122.
102. Abbey, Cozzarelli, McLaughlin & Harnish, supra note 93.
103. Cahoon & Edmonds, supra note 99 at 406. The fact that body revealing
clothing leads perceivers to believe a woman is attractive does present a dilemma for
women. They may choose to dress attractively and accept the other stereotypes that
go with that look. Or, they may dress more conservatively and accept the decrease
in perceived attractiveness.
104. Delwin Cahoon & Ed Edmonds, Male-FemaleEstimates of Opposite Sex First
Impressions ConcerningFemales' Clothing Styles 27 BULL.PSYCHONOMIC Soc'Y 280,
280-81 (1989); Cahoon & Edmonds, supra note 99 at 406. In this research project,
undergraduate males and females were shown a slide of either a female in conceal-
ing clothing (conservative dress) or in revealing clothing (sexy dress). Id. at 406.
Subjects were then asked to indicate their impression of the female and to estimate
opinions of the opposite sex. Id. The sexy model was viewed as likely to be raped or
robbed. Id. Males and females tended to agree in their ratings although there was a
tendency for the men to rate the model more positively than women. Id. When
asked to predict the opinions of the opposite sex, differences were found. Id. Women
assumed the men would view the sexy model more negatively than the men did. Id.
Men were asked to indicate the likelihood that they would rape the sexy model if
they could do so with impunity. Id. While 38.8% of the male subjects indicated they
would rape the sexy model, women predicted that 61.6% of the men would rape her.
406 Law and Inequality [Vol. 11:391
Id. Seven percent of the men indicated they would rape the conservatively dressed
model. Id.
105. Patti Mazelan, Stereotypes and Perceptions of Victims of Rape, 5 Vic-
TUMOLOGY 121 (1982); Edmonds & Cahoon, supra note 100 at 445; Cahoon & Ed-
monds, supra note 99 at 406; Terry & Doerge, supra note 101 at 905. Researchers
asked subjects whether they thought there is a type of woman who was more likely
than others to be raped and then asked subjects to describe this woman. In this
research, 86% of the subjects indicated that there is such a woman. Mazelan, supra
note 105 at 127. One image mentioned was that of the rape victim as being a prosti-
tute, tart or slut or women who, in general, were permissive with loose morals. Id.
The other prominent image was that of the rape victim as the young, attractive flirt
who was unaware of her effect on men. Id. When asked to indicate the type of
clothing that would provoke a rape, the most frequently mentioned items were see-
through, revealing, and sexy clothes. Id. Other descriptions commonly mentioned
were low necklines, short skirts, tight and clinging clothes. Id. at 128.
106. Edmonds & Cahoon, supra note 100 at 445; Cahoon & Edmonds, supra note
104 at 281.
107. Cahoon & Edmonds, supra note 99 at 406; Mazelan, supra note 105; Terry &
Doerge, supra note 101 at 906; Terry, supra note 94.
108. Mazelan, supra note 105, at 128.
109. Cahoon & Edmonds, supra note 104.
110. Edmonds & Cahoon, supra note 100 at 445; Kanekar & Kolsawalla, supra
note 94; Lewis & Johnson, supra note 99 at 25; A. Daniel Yarmey, Older and
1993] IMPLICATIONS OF CLOTHING
other words, rape victims are often seen by members of the criminal
justice system, by convicted rapists, and by citizens as responsible
for selecting clothing that "precipitates" their rapes. That members
of the criminal justice system hold the same attitude as rapists re-
garding the extent to which the rape victim's clothing might play a
part in the rape is problematic in itself and sends an ominous signal
to rape victims. And if clothing can convey consent in a rape or
sexual assault case, it is an easy step for the judicial system to con-
clude that it can also convey welcomeness in sexual harassment
cases, an attitude evidenced in Meritor.122
"women provoke rape by their appearance or behavior." Id. 11% of the citizens, 10%
of the rapists, 19% of the police officers and 1% of the rape crisis counselors agreed
that "in most cases when a woman was raped, she was asking for it." Id.
122. See supra notes 46-57 and accompanying text.
123. Steven L. Neuberg, The Goal of FormingAccurate ImpressionsDuringSocial
Interactions:Attenuating the Impact of Negative Expectancies, 56 J. PERSONALITY &
SOCIAL PSYCHOL. 374 (1989); See DAVID J. SCHNEIDER, A.H. HAsTOIR & P.C. ELLs-
WORTH, PERSON PERCEPTION (1979).
124. E.g., Bruner, supra note 30 at 143; Lee J. Cronbach, Processes Affecting
Scores on 'Understandingof Others" and 'Assumed Similarity" 52 PSYCHOL. BULL.
177 (1955).
125. B. Fischhoff, Perceived Informativeness of Facts, 3 J. ExPIEmENTAL
PSYCHOL.: HUMAN PERCEPTION & PERFORMANCE 349 (1977); for a review, see B.
Fischhoff, Debiasing, in JUDGMENT UNDER UNCERTAINTY: HEURISTICS AND BIASES
422 (D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky, eds. 1982). For example, in Fischhoffs
1977 research, the nature of a possible bias in judgments was carefully explained to
study participants, and the study participants were encouraged to avoid it. Never-
theless, these instructions did not reduce participants' errors in judgment. Id. Prac-
titioners also report that jurors often disregard the jury instructions given by a
judge. Conference on Shifting Perspectives on the Crime of Acquaintance Rape,
Prosecutor Perspective Panel, University of Minnesota Law School (October 30-31,
1992) [hereinafter Conference on Shifting Perspectives].
126. E.g., Mathes & Kempher, supra note 92 at 498.
Law and Inequality [Vol. 11:391
The dress of the defendant is one such piece of evidence despite the
1 2
fact that clothing is not an element of the crime. 4
Regardless of the exact cause, social science research shows
that inferences drawn from external indicators such as clothing are
prone to inaccuracy and bias. Given this tendency, it is alarming
that clothing may be introduced into evidence precisely for the pur-
pose of relying on those often inaccurate and biased inferences.
Conclusion
Defendants who seek to introduce evidence of a victim's cloth-
ing do so to support their allegations that the victim contributed to
her victimization. Because general societal attitudes are reflected
in jurors, they are likely to believe and act on the belief that a wo-
man can contribute to her victimization by the way she dresses.
Because such inferences have been shown to be inaccurate and be-
cause jurors are likely to make them, the law needs to prevent that
evidence from reaching the jury. By keeping the evidence from the
jury, the law will assure that the jury does not make the inaccurate
inferences and assumptions about a victim's manner of dress that
people are likely to make.