What is Victim Blaming?
Why do we need to know about it?
How can we stop it?
Victim-blaming comes in many forms, and is oftentimes more subtle, and unconscious. It can apply to cases of rape and sexual assault, but also to more mundane crimes, like a person who gets pickpocketed and is then chided for his decision to carry his wallet in his back pocket. Any time someone defaults to questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime, he or she is participating, to some degree, in the culture of victim-blaming.
While victim-blaming isn’t entirely universal, in some ways, it is a natural psychological reaction to crime. Not everyone who engages in victim-blaming explicitly accuses someone of failing to prevent what happened to them. In fact, in its more understated forms, people may not always realize they’re doing it. Something as simple as hearing about a crime and thinking you would have been more careful had you been in the victim’s shoes is a mild form of victim-blaming. Hence, there is a need for people know about victim blaming and avoid doing it unconciously. Stop victim blaming to hurt the victim twice.
In order to stop victim blaming, it is helpful to understand why people do it in the first place. One reason people blame a victim/survivor is to distance themselves from an unpleasant occurrence and this gives a false sense that this could not happen to them. By labeling or accusing the victim/survivor, others can see the victim/survivor as different from themselves. People reassure themselves by thinking, “Because I am not like the victim/survivor, because I do not do that, this would never happen to me.” We need to help people understand that this is not a helpful reaction. The storyboard below will present you how an animated video describes the phenonmena in today’s society and the psychology of victim blaming.
Have you ever noticed that there is a problem with victim-blaming in today’s society?
When the security officials violently removed Dr. David Dao from the United Airlines flight,
why did a certain group of people accuse Dr. Dao of his uncooperative behaviour?
When a female celebrity’s private sex tapes were leaked,
why did a certain group of people blame the celebrity of being inaccurate and careless?
Why did they blame the celebrity instead of the one who reveal the tapes to the public?
They are victims but a certain group of people blame them so much like it was their fault making themselves a victim.
Why did some media relate his criminal past to his mistreatment?
Why do these people focus on blaming victims for not protecting themselves instead of perpetrators?