YOUNG women who walk through Gloucester drunk in high heels are putting themselves at risk of attack, according to the city MP.
Conservative Richard Graham said Joanna Lumley was right to raise the issue, although her comments were controversial.
The actress urged young girls to take more responsibility for their actions, claiming being drunk in a gutter in a 'silly dress' leaves them vulnerable to rape or being mugged.
Mr Graham who in the past likened an Eastgate Street night out to 'decadent Rome' said: "Of course she's right to highlight the problem. A night out is about having fun without putting yourself at risk.
"If you are a young woman on her own trying to walk back home through Gloucester Park, early in the morning in a tight, short skirt and high shoes and there's a predator and if you are blind drunk and wearing those clothes how able are you to get away?
"Although we have pretty heavy police presence in Eastgate Street life doesn't give you full protection from a predator all the time.
"You have got to help look after yourself as well."
A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire Rape Crisis Centre said rape was the crime, not getting drunk and it was 'stimulated by desire for power and to humiliate and degrade'. She added: "It's got nothing to do with how you are dressed or whether you are drunk."
Trustee of Rape Crisis England and Wales Jo Wood said: "These comments have set us back about 100 years.
"It doesn't matter if you are off your face, lying naked on a bench, that man takes it upon himself to rape you and it's about putting the blame back on perpetrators."
But Chief Inspector for Gloucester Richard Burge agreed being drunk can put people at risk.
He said: "We would appeal to everyone not to drink so much you don't know what's happening.
"Excessive alcohol can make you vulnerable so stay with friends and if you are with a friend, try and look out for them too." For safety advice visit www.gloucestershire.police.uk. Contact Gloucestershire Rape Crisis Centre on 01452 526770.
UPDATE: Richard Graham has contacted The Citizen this afternoon to say that he intended his comments to reflect that it was an matter of "risk management" and that he felt elements of the article were incorrect.
He stressed that he had not said he agreed with Joanna Lumley but had said: "Of course she (Joanna Lumley) is right to highlight the problem. A night out is about having fun without putting yourself at risk."
He said: "I also stressed the issue was about risk management: about being aware of what behaviour/clothes might put you more at risk and less at risk.
"That is not the same as your headline, and on such a sensitive subject, so soon after the ghastly attack in India, this was designed for mischief and to provoke comments from rape charities.
"Risk management is a million miles from saying anything like 'she was asking for it'."
