Those mixed signals confuse men -- or more accurately, boys -- who have only two options: believe the signals or believe the words. Since only the latter is safe, men have to ignore what their eyes are telling them. They have to ignore the biological signals that women have been using to attract sexual attention since Eve donned a fig leaf.
In other words, they have to become inured to sexual attractions.
However, the women are actually signalling that they DO want the attention, just probably not in quite so cavalier a fashion. So when men learn to ignore them, they are forced to resort to more and more brazen displays to get the attention they seek.
In our lifetime, we've gone from Laura Petrie and Barbara Billingsley to Madonna to Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears. The only thing left is to drop the laundry entirely and perform in the altogether.
No, women don't deserve to be raped just because they dress provocatively. But men don't deserve to be lied to either. If you want sexual attention, they be brave enough to accept it when it ... comes. If you don't want it, then don't dress like a bus-station hooker.
20 some years ago I saw an issue of Cosmo that spelled this conflict out beautifully.
Two articles faced each other.
The one on the left was about the horrors of sexual harassment.
The one facing it was about how to dress sexy at work.
If you don’t want the sexual attention, why would you want to dress sexy?
” ... don’t dress like a bus-station hooker ... “
Maybe you can give us some examples.