Chrissie Hynde Addresses Outrage Sparked By Her Rape Comments

The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde is not exactly backing down from her troubling victim-blaming comments about rape that she made recently. Speaking to the Washington Post, Hynde said: "Do I regret saying it? I don’t know. I haven't really thought about it." Hynde's memoir, Reckless: My Life As a Pretender, details an instance in which Hynde was sexually assaulted by members of a biker gang. She says she was at fault for this event, and talked about her stance in further detail with the UK's The Sunday Times, explaining, "If I’m walking around and I’m very modestly dressed and I’m keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I’d say that’s [the attacker’s] fault, but If I’m walking around in my underwear and I’m drunk? Who else’s fault can it be?" She also told the Sunday Times: "If you don’t want to entice a rapist, don't wear high heels so you can’t run from him. If you’re wearing something that says ‘Come and f*** me’, you’d better be good on your feet." One of the most high-profile figures that spoke out against Hynde's comments was The Runaways' Jackie Fox, who told her story of her rape by manager Kim Fowley earlier this year. In regards to Hynde, Fox told Yahoo Music, "I don’t want to cast a stone at Chrissie Hynde — just at that one particular statement. Because it’s a really dangerous message." On Twitter many were expectedly outraged.

While some also expressed sorrow for Hynde, a victim herself. The Guardian's Hadley Freeman tweeted: "Many people seem furious with Chrissie Hynde, and I get why, but I feel pity for her. Imagine blaming y/self for sthg so awful for so long." Reviewing her statements with The Washington Post, Hynde said, "sounds like common sense." She later pivoted the conversation, bringing up the European refugee crisis and the photograph of "a Turkish policeman carrying the body of a 3-year-old boy who got washed up on the shore. These are the heartbreaking images we have and we’re talking about millions of displaced persons and people whose families have been destroyed and we’re talking about comments that I allegedly made about girls in their underwear." Hynde further discussed her assault in an upcoming interview with CBS's Sunday Morning, saying "If you hung out with those guys, that's what happened. That's the way it was," the Associated Press reported. Reckless: My Life As a Pretender is set for publication Sept. 8