What women tell women to do to prevent rape and violence takes on the character of magical thinking — rituals and talismans and rites of cleanliness meant to prevent uncontrollable circumstances. The advice is always terrible in some way, and it has a certain desperate powerlessness to it. These rituals have come to be because they are comforting and allow many women to function. The alternative to this advice is for many women even worse than this advice, even though the advice is awful. It is admitting that we live in a world of men’s violence, and that we can do nothing about it. Comforting the victim means accepting that tomorrow, you could be the victim, your daughter or son could be the victim, and there is nothing you can do about it.