Is Rape A Victim Blame?

Victim-blaming in a word is exactly what it sounds like, it is when the victim of a crime is either held partially or entirely responsible for the wrongdoing that has befallen them. Victim-blaming can have numerous negative effects the most obvious being that other victims are less likely to come forward in fear of being labeled at fault and generally degraded. In the article ‘Being Silenced: The Impact of Negative Social Reactions on the Disclosure of Rape’ it is revealed that rape survivors often stopped talking about the assault after experiencing negative reactions such as being blamed for the assault, receiving insensitive reactions from family friends, and professionals, receiving a lack of support after disclosing the crime, and inappropriate

22). Many people believe that the women could have prevented the rape if they knew who the attacker was. The truth is there is no way to determine who is going to get raped; only the attacker knows. Most people have a “gut feeling” when it comes to new people, and many just push it aside until something bad happens, and then the feeling comes back again. If a woman goes on a date or is with friends and they get that “gut feeling” again, then it could possibly end badly. People do not know what is going to happen to them every second of their lives. There is no way to know who it will happen to or when it will occur and by whom. An evening planned with friends could all go awry without any warning. A victim usually doesn’t think that someone they know would even consider raping them. So the attacker is to blame because they are the ones who planned it.

There is an idea that we have become a nation of victims. Some psychologist and most people have a don’t blame the victim mentality. While other psychologist look at the victims as being held accountable in some cases. Looking at the data and validity of these arguments, I believe that neither one should be used but instead we should shy away from the blame approach and develop a better understanding of the role victims play in violent situations

A Victim is described as a person who is killed, harmed or injured due to a crime, accident, or some other action or event. A victim is also described as someone who has been tricked or duped. These definitions perfectly describe a victim of rape. A victim is not only harmed from a rape crime, but is also tricked into thinking that justice will occur. This is not the case. Fifty percent of people feel as if rape is the victims fault and never the rapist fault. Why is society so willing to blame the victim of an unlawful sexual act that violates the victim mentally and physically, instead of dealing with this social issue?

Victim blaming allows criminals to walk free, forces the victims to have children they don't want and leaves torturous psychological damage that follows the victims for the rest of their lives. Blaming rape victims for their experience causes many negative occurrences.

The term ‘rape culture’ was coined by feminists in the United States in 1970. The term itself was designed to illustrate the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault, and how the normalization of male sexual violence was acceptable. Rape culture can stem from the acceptance of rape as a daily occurrence, manifested as a male prerogative. There is a hesitation by the authorities to go against the patriarchal cultural norms, hence linking nonconsensual sex to the cultural disposition of society. The patriarchal perspective of rape culture, embedded with gender inequality and misogyny are passed through generations which ultimately leads to the extensive institutional and social acceptance of rape. Actions which advocate sexist ideals are utilized to justify and validate normative misogynistic perceptions. Rape culture sexualizes violence inflicted upon women, as it serves as a continuum of a society which views a women’s body to be sexually available by default, deriving from the overall domination and objectification of a female. The underlying cause of rape culture is localized as it based upon the social aspects of culture. For example, countries with a prolific ‘war culture’ tend to emphasize violence and masculinity, and therefore rape is viewed as a normal facet of society. I intend to parallel the element of rape culture to the enforcement of social rules and the conditioning of gender roles. I plan on analyzing the notion that within the encompassment of

Johnson, Mullick, and Mulford (2002), created a study to try to determine if victim blaming is simply a general variable that is within people, or if victim blaming depending on a more specific variable suck as the type of victim that is being considered. They began by setting up four scales in which they can test for the type of blaming. The scales consisted of society in general, specific kind of victim, the society in which the victims live in, and the victims in general. Johnson and colleagues (2002) administered a survey to 876 students who were in large introductory sociology classes at a state university located in the Midwestern part of the United States. Their results showed that both the general and specific victim blaming were significant and were positively correlated. On the other hand, victim blaming and society blaming showed no significant correlation (Johnson, Mullick, & Mulford, 2002). This ties into our study because part of what we are trying to find out is if the victim blaming is more prevalent when our participants know more specifics about the victim compared to when only general information is known about the victim.

Also, “Feminist researchers have criticised the above approaches, suggesting that examining victims’ behaviour for its role in the perpetration of a crime may constitute blaming the victim, thereby holding them responsible for their plight.” (Spalek, B 2006). Feminist would also criticize the way in which the positivist approach uses victim perception to address rape victims. They would argue that this leads to victim blaming and lack of trust within the criminal justice system, this could then results in secondary victimisation.

Merril Smith’s Encycolpedia of Rape defines the term “rape culture” as “one in which rape and other sexual violence against women . . . [is] both prevalent and considered the norm” (174). Rape is not a new subject in today’s society, its origins reaching far back into history. What causes rape, though? Is it the primal drive of men to exhibit dominance over all women, or do the women share the blame because of the way they dress, act, or do their makeup? Modern American culture would place the blame on the woman who “provoked” the attack; however, a woman should not have to park closer to the building she is entering, nor should she have to carry protection just in case a sexual predator decides that she is his next victim. Men are just as

There are a myriad of victimological perspectives; positivist, radical and critical. Positivist victimologists possess the view that crime is “…a focus on interpersonal crimes of violence, and a concern to identify victims who may have contributed to their own victimization” (Miers, 1989:3). In addition, it is theorized that the responsibility is demonstrated by the victim, suggesting offences are victim precipitated. For example, women consenting to sex but then changing minds or not resisting sufficiently (Amir, 1971). Insinuations consequently arise that women may invite rape, thus victim precipitation by this means became connected with victim blaming. Nevertheless, the positivist approach does not recognise the procedure of social construction

When a crime is committeed, there are always at least two individuals involved. There is the person committing the crime and the person who is the victim of the crime. For most crimes there is no debate who is the cause of the offense, the criminal. If a robber breaks into someone’s house and steals something, never is the house owner blamed for the incident. Why then is there a difference whem it comes to rape? This is exactly what students of Utrecht University wanted to answer and how to change it.

For most individuals, the thought of blaming the victim of a tragic experience for their own pain and suffering, seems preposterous. However, ascribing at least some of the blame to the victim is not uncommon (Niemi & Young, 2014). Victim blaming refers to individuals finding reasons to hold the victim of an incident responsible for the crime that took place (Hayes, Lorenz & Bell, 2013). For victims of sexual assault, who may already be experiencing self-blame and distrust of others, being blamed adds insult to injury (Harber, Podolski, & Williams, 2015). According to Harber et. al, victim blaming can also have long-term effects on victims, such as, increased anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In an effort to increase support and resources for survivors of sexual assault researchers must determine why individuals are prone to blaming the victims rather than the perpetrator of a crime.

One thing that I believe is faulty is victim blaming in cases of sexual assault. Now, I understand that everyone looks at things a different way but to me sexual assault is never the victims fault in any way. I say this because yes, a person may be wearing “provocative” clothes or talking in a way that may be perceived as flirtatious, but when it comes down to it, if the victim tells the assailant to stop and they don’t, the assailant is at fault. This can also be applied to assault victims that are in a situation they cannot control. An example of such situation could be, if the victim is driving at night and their car breaks down in a bad part of town and they get robbed, it’s not really their fault that they ended up where they

Rape culture is an environment in which social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual violence against women and excusing it in the media and other popular cultures. Rape culture attempts to rationalize a continuum of sexual violence that range from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching, and rape itself. Rape culture has become so desensitized by society that perpetrators may not be aware of their wrongdoings and victims may not realize they are being victimized. It is a culture in which victims are suppressed when they decide to speak up about their traumatic attack, because they are seen as being dramatic or untruthful while the perpetrator's actions are left unpunished. While the majority of victims are women, rape culture is not solemnly an issue of female oppression, it is a general disconnect between human beings. It is a culture that many of us refuse to accept exist, however there are numerous examples that normalize rape and sexual assault on a daily basis. Rape culture is not a new topic. The term was first used back in the 1970’s by a group of feminist to raise the awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society. In recent years the topic has become a popular, controversial issue and has come to permeate virtually every aspect of our lives through media, song lyrics, and everyday jargon.

Rape is something that continues to happen not only in the United States, but in every country, and is continuing to ruin many people's lives. Also there are myths that women and young girls are the main victims when it comes to rape cases, although there may be many cases that are directed mainly towards women , men and young boys are also victims. I believe that because it is more common for women to get raped it's easier in a way to report it as to where if it were a male, he may not want to report it because he would feel demasculinized, and embarrassed. But what if you lived in a country where rape is considered normal amongst the villagers because young girls , simply had it coming to them because for some reason they looked at a man or said thank you to them. Obviously she was flirting with him and