Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde causes outrage over rape remarks

"If I'm walking around in my underwear and I'm drunk ... Who else's fault can it be?" the singer was quoted as saying in an interview with the Sunday Times magazine in the UK.

"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 his fault. But if I'm being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who's already unhinged ... that's just common sense."

The Pretenders singer writes in her recent autobiography, entitled Reckless, that she was sexually assaulted in the US city of Ohio when she was 21.

Hynde, now 63, told the magazine that a member of a motorcycle gang had promised to take her to a party, but instead took her to an abandoned house. Hynde claims she was forced to perform sexual acts under the threat of violence.

She now says she takes full responsibility for the assault.

"Technically speaking, however you want to look at it, this was all my doing and I take full responsibility. You can't f... about with people, especially people who wear 'I Heart Rape' and 'On Your Knees' badges ... those motorcycle gangs, that's what they do," Hynde was quoted as saying.

"You can't paint yourself into a corner and then say whose brush is this? You have to take responsibility. I mean, I was naive."

When asked whether the gang took advantage of her vulnerability, she replied: "If you play with fire you get burnt. It's not any secret, is it?"

She was also quoted as saying: "You know 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 ... I don't think I'm saying anything controversial am I?"

She also suggested that pop stars who called themselves feminists, but who used their sex appeal to sell albums, were effectively "prostitutes".

"Women who sell what their product is by using sex – that's prostitution," Hynde was quoted as saying.

"A pop star who's walking around, parading themselves as a porn star and saying they're feminists. They're prostitutes. I'm not making a value judgment on prostitutes, but just say what you are."

Her comments caused outrage among victim support charities, as well as online, with Twitter awash with commentary.

I thought Chrissie Hynde was trending because she'd died. But no, it's much worse than that.— Alix Haynes (@amazing_haynes) August 30, 2015

Some people expressed sympathy for Hynde, who appeared to have blamed herself for her own sexual assault for so many years.