A Sky News presenter has prompted anger after suggesting drunk women who wear short skirts must take some responsibility if they are sexually assaulted.
Stephen Dixon, who co-presents Sky News Sunrise, was presenting a discussion about a new report by The Fawcett Society which found almost two out of five men and a third of women thought a woman was totally or partly to blame if she went out late at night wearing a short skirt, got drunk and was then sexually assaulted.
Dixon suggested women needed to take some personal responsibility and compared a woman going out and getting drunk in a short skirt to himself going out and “provoking someone”.
He asked a female guest: 'Is it a dreadful thing to say if women are out in short skirts and drunk that they don't need to take any personal responsibility?'
The woman responded: 'Yes. If you're walking down the street and you get punched in the face are you responsible for having left your house?'
Mr Dixon replied: 'I'd be responsible if I was out provoking someone.'
The guest then replied: 'It is not provocative to drink and it is not provocative to wear what women chose to wear. It's not about provoking behaviour.'
The comments were made on Sunrise, Sky's new breakfast show, in a debate about a study which found that two in five men believe a drunk woman wearing a short skirt is to blame if they are sexually assaulted.
Twitter users quickly slammed Mr Dixon for his comments, describing them as 'appalling'.
But Mr Dixon followed up his comments with a tweet - which has now been deleted - which said: 'What's wrong with taking some personal responsibility?'.
He then added: 'What is terrible for everyone is when an issue can't be discussed without accusations flying.'
Among those who criticised Mr Dixon was Fraser Stewart said: 'How a woman chooses to dress or behave is her business. Rape is not.'
While Rozi Jones wrote: 'So @SkyStephen thinks women are to blame if they are sexually assaulted whilst drinking or wearing a specific type of outfit. In 2017.'
Charles Clark added: 'A rapist rapes a woman because he's a rapist. To even imply she's to blame is shocking.'
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