Stop Blaming Victims for Sexual Assault

This essay will examine the social and cultural conditions, within the macro-diachronic and micro-synchronic theoretical models , that intensify or perpetuate sexual assault. I have chosen only one concept from each model because these are the only concepts that I feel that I can use to most accurately and comprehensively depict causes and reasons for why sexual assault is deeply entrenched in our social structure. I will thus explore, from these ideological viewpoints, some of the motivations and circumstances which lead offenders to sexual assault. I will also fuse some of the historical attitudes from which today's concepts have evolved to our contemporary understanding of this social

Start blaming the system, not the victim. Sexual assault is a crime that is very common, yet the punishment perpetrators receive is not as harsh as it needs to be to reduce the occurrence of these crimes. Laws concerning sexual crimes have been edited over decades to be stricter however, sex offenders typically receive little or no punishment. Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual Assault”). Victims of sexual assault are often blamed as the reason for the crime being committed while the blame is taken away from the offender. Harsher punishment must be enacted on sex offenders because the victims suffer conflict from the crime throughout their

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

Within society, there is an engrained belief of what makes a person a legitimate victim and often their status as a ‘victim’ is questioned. This is especially true if the victim does not fit the typical stereotype of who is considered to be a legitimate victim. This is most widely illustrated in cases involving male victims of sexual assault.

Sexual assault and violence is increasing due to advertisements misinforming people into believing that such behavior is acceptable. “In the 1960’s Kilbourne found that she received more recognition for her looks rather than her intelligence” (Grean and Lidinisky, 490). Perhaps this is why Kilbourne wrote her book, Deadly Persuasion, analyzing this problem. Kilbourne found herself in the environment bubble the media is creating where the objective analysis of people is acceptable. Kilbourne’s book is an attempt to bring awareness towards how much harm the media’s portrayal of people is generating. Kilbourne’s book is mainly targeted towards women, and is trying to spur them towards action in an attempt to change the world and, more

Rape and sexual harassment are both two common forms of sexual violence prevalent in the United States. Although both events can happen to men, women are more prone to face these occurrences. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, “78% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are women and 22% are men” (“Domestic Violence Statistics”). In 2011, companies experienced sexual harassment charges at 11% in relation to all charges brought forth to businesses, and 16% of these charges were filed by men ("Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment"). These women are eternally tainted by these occurrences, as Jean Améry wrote, “whoever was tortured, stays tortured” (Brison 5). Our American society rarely considers the effect on

Sexual assault of any kind is never the victims fault. It is very likely to hear someone speaking about how another girl may deserve the negative attention she receives when she wears a short skirt or spaghetti tank top or strapless shirt. Our society and stereotypes are part of our everyday popular beliefs. Saying that “she practically asked for it,” or “she just wanted the attention.” These sort of statements create judgment that sadly makes sexual assault “okay”. If restated in other words, “If she was sexually assaulted, it was probably her fault,” or “she is asking to be raped.” That is not how most people feel thankfully, but some do see it as that and that is all how victim blaming begins. People believe that sexual assault can be prevented, but that is not true what so

The rising concern over the potential effect of violent and sexually explicit media on people has become very

It is six o’clock in the evening, a special news segment on world affairs is on the television. The journalist is doing a piece on inhumane practices that occur in third world countries, one of these travesties being rape. The voices of women who have been stolen from their homes and have been taken advantage of against their own will infiltrate the air. These personal stories have an incredulously powerful impact on those listening and make one think “How could such an outrageous thing happen?” Truth be told, these horrors are not just happening in far-off places, but they are happening right now in the United States of America. The very simple fact that one is oblivious to the magnitude of sexual violence in their very own country is an

Technologies evolve, but sex and violence have always been and remain hot button issues in the media. The pace of the new technological change can be so great that we can no longer wait on formal media effects research to guide our personal decisions. There have been many changes that have been taken place with media sex and violence today since I was a child. I believe that the media technologies have increased the negative effects of sex and violence on children and adults today. This paper will discuss why and provide examples of how it has an effect on adults and children because it’s not only an adult issue. This paper will also discuss recommendations

Since the inventions of television and film, media influences have become extremely important in modern society with people constantly being inundated by images and messages that come from film, television, magazines, internet and advertising. Researchers and theorists such as Carol J. Clover and Jean Kilborne believe that the fact that people are going to be affected by the media is absolutely unavoidable. Films can act as guides to how people, particularly women, should act and look. Women in horror are typically shown as the ‘damsel in distress’ and are usually attacked by the killer after committing a sinful act like having sex or misusing drugs or alcohol. The females are

Sex offenses receive an inordinate amount of special attention from the public as well as the criminal justice system. Is this because our system is a static reflection of the society/community they answer to? Sexual offense stories infiltrate every membrane of our society, from legal mores to norms, from social media to religion. Our system of justice can’t help but deliver attention to this area. Justice demands it and society needs it for interpersonal validation. The Criminal Justice system has given humans a scale to rate what is normal and what is deviant. Our text (Okada. p.182) shares that

Women make up about half of the world's population; roughly three billion, five hundred million people. Of these, 35% will be faced with sexual violence during their lifetime. In America, that is equivalent to 293,066 victims of sexual violence each year, one new victim every 107 seconds. This horrific violence is not just limited to the "real world." We live in a world where we are bombarded by high-definition images of violence committed against women; shown widescreen in the cinema during films rated as low as 12; packaged prettily and sold as family-friendly Saturday night television; and worked subtly into Top Forty songs with widespread radio play. This perverse insistence in consistently reducing women to their value as sexual objects,

I completely agree with the points you raised. You are right that many victims fear that no one would believe them and if even they do believe, it is the victim in the end who would be blamed by the society. I think that this is most common for women because when a woman is sexually assaulted the society instead of supporting her starts to blame her and question her dress code etc. You are absolutely right that lack of confidence in criminal justice department is also a big factor why many people do not report sexual assault cases. I think that the victim is also afraid of further damage from the assaulter and they feel like the police or other security department cannot provide them enough protection.

Today, sexual assault has become a norm that women have to endure on a day to day basis. Men have been taught from an early age that mistreating women is ok because they are “just teasing them” or because they “like them”. Women have been dealing with the burden of feeling as though their voices will not be heard if they choose to speak up, and men feel as though they have free reign and control of women’s bodies. “We beat girls down until they become too afraid to report the sexual assault because of the shame that comes with being violated, meanwhile, we do not guilt boys for being sexual assaulters." (www.cnn.com) It is time to change that stigma for the betterment of the world. Many people may feel as though the accusations against the Hollywood executives are just