In society, we hear many people blaming women for their encounter with sexual assault. While some victim blaming might be pretty obvious, other situations of victim blaming can be hard to detect. By blaming a women or man for their encounter, people become more and more likely not to report cases of sexual assault–letting perpetrators get out legal punishment.
Victim blaming can happen after any sexual assault encounter, and can even be done to oneself. Victim blaming consists of society asking the question of “was it really rape, or was it a regrettable sexual encounter”. These ideas of “victim blaming” surround a misconception on sexual assault, blaming variables such as what a woman was wearing, what they were drinking, or even “what they could have done differently”.
Many women fear coming out about their encounters due to these socially constructed misconceptions. While in most reported cases, a male is the perpetrator, both genders face fear when coming out about their experience due to the backlash they might receive from people. Continually asking questions, asking a person to repeat their story multiple times in detail, and questioning their own experience is what turns victims away from pressing charges, and some women may even lie and say it “wasn’t rape” in order to not deal with the backlash that might be ahead.
Victim blaming needs to be properly address in order to prevent further trauma for the victim. Women and men brave enough to go to an authoritative figure to report sexual assault are most times turned away after coming out. Being told things such as “this is going to be hard to prove” or “many people don’t follow through with charges” is so disheartening for men and women to hear.
I hope that more people will learn about victim blaming and how to spot it and prevent it. When a person is told something like “you were just drunk”, there needs to be multiple people there to explain that it is not their place to tell the victim it was solely THEIR fault. A woman or mans clothing, how drunk they were, or what kind of relationship they had with the perpetrator should never be used as an excuse for what the perpetrator has violated.
Rebecca M. Hayes, K. L. (2013, April 29). Victim blaming others: Rape myth acceptance and the just world belief – rebecca M. hayes, Katherine Lorenz, Kristin A. Bell, 2013. SAGE Journals. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1557085113484788.