Essay on What Is Victim Blaming

We live in the modern world where technology and social networks play a huge role in our life. We cannot imagine even one day spent without our smartphones: Internet searching and watching news feed on Facebook and Instagram (while being at university or school) have become a tradition. More importantly, I can say for sure that this “tradition” can be called the illness of XXI century and there is no medicine against this disease.

You may wonder how all of it could be related to victim blaming. However, there is a direct correlation between these two notions because a social network (and technologies that go together with them) is a sphere and a “field” where victim blaming is flourishing. So, let me explain everything.

Essay to Determine Victim Blaming

According to American experts, the best way to analyze any process or notion is to visualize it. Visualizing as a form gives a possibility to see every detail and fact that contributes to the conclusion. A written form, in this case, is a part of visualization process because it implies the ability to focus on one particular thing (that disturbs us) and analyze it without any limits or measures.

Therefore, I have come up with an idea of examining the key facts about victim blaming through writing an essay that will describe it in the best way. Of course, you can entrust your essay to a team of professionals who are always ready to cope with any difficulties, or you can of course count on yourself. The first option is sometimes preferable, so, please consider it seriously.

So, what is the victim blaming?

"Victim blaming" is literally "accusation of the victim" – conscious or unconscious assessment of the behavior of the victim of domestic or sexual violence. Most often than not, the evaluative point of view is expressed by men, but recently, especially on the Internet, the accusations are made by women themselves.

The accusers usually give reasons by using the following phrases:

• She/he might not dress appropriately;
• Spending the evening in the company of men is not the best idea;
• She/he triggered the situation;
• It does not happen to normal people;
• She/he wanted it.

These are only some of the examples of the reasons that explain why someone has violated another person’s rights. I hope you have understood the key point. Thus, the accuser automatically takes the aggressor’s side and does not help the victim. Therefore, the victim exposes himself/herself to moral violence. And all of it happens on social networks: personal accounts on Facebook or Instagram.

Let me provide an example of such violence. The guy who had killed a girl made a post that revealed all the facts about the murder. Obviously, people commented on the post, but you would be shocked - people did not accuse the guy but put the blame on the girl. Why? Many believe that the girl specifically provoked the guy, knowing that the young man was not indifferent to her. Therefore, it led to an attack. At the same time, the girl could stay alive if she agreed to his propositions.

Comments that appeared under the post are an obvious indicator of victim blaming: “Well done, handsome, beautifully done everything!", "She is to blame. She provoked him.” You may think that all these comments were made by men because only they can understand the guy. However, women were no more gracious than men: “She got what she wanted,” "It is strange that he has not done it earlier."

Reasons for Victim Blaming

"Could there be any reasons to blame the victim?!" – such a thought may come to your mind. Nevertheless, the behavior of the victim blamers has an explanation. It is possible that they are not so evil as it may seem, and they are driven by an ordinary fear.

Fear of admitting that it can happen to anyone. Accusing the victim, such people subconsciously build a wall between themselves and the victim. On the one hand, they think: "I am normal, ordinary, it will not happen to me!" And on the other hand, they try to convince themselves and others that violence occurs only when a person behaves in an inappropriate way. But in fact, the victim of blame is scared to admit that some girl/boy was not lucky. It is an illusion that the implementation of a set of rules can protect them from this. For example:

• Do not wear too revealing clothes;
• Do not talk to strangers;
• Do not walk on dark streets after 10 p.m.;
• Do not go to bars and clubs alone (and it's better not to visit at all).

In general, do not do anything that can provoke a person to attack, and then everything will be in order. And if you do not follow at least one of these rules, then you deserve to get comments like mentioned above. However, no one pays attention to the fact that even if a person follows all the rules and behaves appropriately, it does not mean that she or he cannot become an object of violence.

People attack victims because of the lack of information, fear, and desire of the illusory security forgetting that there is no deep-dyed way to protect themselves. And the victims and their relatives need support, not a psychological trauma.

Do Not Become a Victim Blamer

There are three simple rules that will help you not to become a victim blamer:

1. Rule number one: forget the phrase "it is your loss." Under any circumstances, victim cannot be responsible for what happened to her/him;
2. Rule two: remember that you are the third person in this situation. The victims of violence hope for help. They do not want to attract the attention – only get some support!
3. Rule three: believe the victim. Try to listen to him or her and do not demonize a person.

What If I Am an Object of Victim Blamer?

Firstly, do not panic, do not go into hysterics and do not try to justify the attacker and all the people who shout, "It is your fault." The fault always lies with someone who was not able to control himself/herself and thought that it was possible to do harm to another person.

In addition, you should not make excuses and prove something to the victim blamer. Your task is to take care of yourself and return your normal emotional condition. If you are not aware of how to cope with this stress, go here and read general pieces of advice how to overcome emotional upset. Believe me, it will considerably contribute to health improvement. And if you’re still thinking about where you can get your assignment or research paper and that thought constantly distracts you from reading some interesting articles, such as this one, that means that it’s high time you consider help from specialists.