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Victim blaming can be described as a phenomenon where the casualty of a wrongful act is somehow held responsible for the hurt inflicted on them. This occurrence seems to be prevalent in cases of sexual and physical assault where the perpetrator is a man and the victim is a woman.
When women report cases of domestic abuse to their family and friends, the first question that they are often faced with is, “What did you do to provoke him?”. As if that is enough reason for a man to physically assault his wife. Unfortunately, I have been one of those who ask that question. This is especially typical in communities where women are expected to be subservient to their spouses and men are given free rein to discipline recalcitrant wives.
Some people’s reactions to reports of sexual assault are similarly appalling. Not only do they blame the woman for dressing in an overtly revealing way but they also blame her for behaving in a provocative way and intentionally seducing her rapist. By their logic, the rapist was powerless in the face of such seduction and had no choice but to force himself on the woman. I wonder what excuse will be given to women who, despite wearing full body coverings such as the Burka, still become victims of rape.
When it comes to married couples, others believe that consent is not required because the man is simply exercising his right as a spouse. When faced with these kinds of criticism from their entourage, it is no wonder that many women shy away from reporting these incidents to the authorities.
Such perceptions have a negative effect on victims and perpetrators. In cases of repeated abuse, victims may start believing their critics and begin blaming themselves for their misfortunes at the hands of their abuser. Perpetrators also face the danger of hindering their own rehabilitation process because in their eyes their actions have been validated by the fact that other people are blaming the victim. As a result of this, they genuinely do not see any wrongdoing on their part and are unable, or even unwilling, to take responsibility for their actions.
Society plays a huge part in perpetuating this vicious cycle. As more children grow up in homes where abuse is rife, girls learn to accept such behaviour from their future partners and boys develop an attitude of nonchalance towards cases of abuse, if they themselves do not become abusers. Girls can also suffer from a lack of self-confidence when interacting with the opposite sex as they fret over their clothing being too revealing or their actions being too provocative.
Nobody blames robbery victims for not having taken the necessary precautions to keep the robbers at bay. Neither are kidnap victims blamed for finding themselves in a location where they could be easily abducted. So why do we place this additional yoke on the necks of women who have been sexually or physically abused?
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