Blaming the victim

[BRex21]

What about the case in Winnipeg where a woman alleged rape after meeting up with a guy, asking him to go skinny dipping with her, having a friend drive them out to a secluded area and leave them there alone. Because the judge in the case was removed from trying any future sex crimes for giving a man a light sentance. Some times i think common sense needs to be put out there, even when it is victim blaming.
My insurance company can deny my claim if they can prove i didnt take steps to protect myself. It wouldn't mean that the robber wouldnt be guilty, just that i was stupid for not putting a lock on my door. I would also argue that dressing in a short skirt with no underwear, as women were fighting for their right to do in the so called "slut walk", is really obviously going to be taken as an invitation by certain groups of men. Again, doesnt mean they arent guilty if the cop a feel, it just means that there are easy ways to cut down on these signals.
But your article is disgusting, there is no way shape or form that the girl in question here could have done ANYTHING to warrant any blame in an attack like this.
However, my insurance company can deny my claim if they can prove i didnt take steps to protect myself. It wouldn't mean that the robber wouldnt be guilty, just that i was stupid for not putting a lock on my door.

 

[Qmonster]

People who want to blame the victim (some prefer "survivor") either have never been a victim, or have been and blame themselves.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Rape is never right, however dressing like a slut doesnt help. I'm not saying that if you dress like one you will and should get raped, but when you dress like that, I dont want to hear "I was raped, and only cause I was showing off my body because I want men to look at me".

Basically, you lose a little bit of my sympathy if you blame your clothes and tehy are slutty, though I'll wont say it was deserved.

... Then again, there's a fine line on rape, and some cases I do lose respect the "victim". Rather recent, someone I knew was brought up for rape, cause the girl was in the middle of sex with him and said stop as he was about the "release". Well, he did (couldnt help it, and if you could I want you to think about just what that meant), and now he's being charged for rape.

EDIT:

Wait... she's been raped before? How many times has this girl been the center of a rape charge, and what is she doing if she's eleven and is getting consistently raped? Somethings off.

 

[chowderface]

Yes, very...
No.

I don't think you quite understood me, that was a hypothetical situation, designed to provide a message, out of context.

A sexual predator is precisely that, a predator.
They do 'act' like animals (sometimes) and i can't imagine women 'baiting' them, exactly helps the situation.

And yes we are animals, and like animals we too are driven by sex, and some people can't help themselves.

I understood you perfectly. That doesn't obligate me to find your argument well-crafted or well-thought-out in the slightest. You can't make an analogy "out of context". If you take it out of context it loses its meaning. And in context, your analogy is ignorant and offensive.

Because we're not dealing with a gray area here. You can't say, "These people are animals and should be expected to act on instinct and drives, but these OTHER people are not animals and should know better." Either they're both animals that can't take responsibility for their own actions, or they're both people and both need to be held accountable for their part in the proceedings (protip: There is no such thing as "asking for it" in rape. Dressing like a slut just means that you want people to think you're a slut. And one of the key things about sluts is that they sleep with a lot of people, AND THEY CONSCIOUSLY SAID "YES" TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE).

That you would even SAY "some people can't help themselves" as though it was some kind of excuse is alarming, to say the least.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Rape always struck me as a somewhat difficult endeavor. You've got to beat somebody up, hold somebody down, get it out, get aroused, and then prevent enough thrashing around to keep the other person from injuring your reproductive organs. It's not like "She was dressing slutty and my penis just naturally got into her body on its own." I mean, let's take rape out of the equation for a moment. Is it okay to beat the shit out of someone because of how they dress? Ever? Rape strikes me as the sexual equivalent spinning plates while riding a unicycle, juggling, and solving a Rubix cube. It doesn't happen accidentally. You can't blame someone else for that. Takes significant effort, not to oversell rapists or anything.

 

[duowolf]

Trying to pin rape or sexual assault situations on the victim is fucking disgusting anyway you look at it. I don't care what you are wearing, it has no relevance to getting raped.

QFT. I just do not understand the mentality behind this type of stuff. To me, it makes no sense. The victim is never to blame for the crimes committed against them. Ever.

This so very much. Blaming the victim is just sick and one of the reasons a lot of crimes (espically rape) aren't reported at all.

 

[Palademon]

Wow, can't believe the comments in that article where people are blaming a society that allows various sexualities, and acting racist.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Of course, you are never, EVER to blame the victim for the crime that was committed against them,

Thats not always true. Maybe in Rape, but if I were to walk over and just start assaulting someone for no reason, they'd be rather justified to beat the hell out of me the next day. At that point, you can only look at me and say "well, thats on you, shouldnt have started".

 

[Communist partisan]

Whatever.... they got raped, justice won't prevail cos' they probably don't have capital punishment so why even bother?

EDIT: heres a song that tells what we need to do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVPWqYrOd5w

 

[Devil's Due]

I don't blame the victim, but if they're stupid enough to try their luck that is otherwise a stupid idea, then I won't shed a tear. Still doesn't mean it's right and doesn't make it less horrible, but I just can't really get too riled up for it.

Sorry, I am a firm believer in natural selection.

 

[newfoundsky]

Blaming the victim? I think those that do that should share in the victimization. And chances are if the perpetrator had his way, then they would.

People who commit rape/murder/etc are usually messed up enough to rape whatever counselor you send them to. These people are just bad.

 

[darthotaku]

God I hate things like this. It's like saying the jews were to blame for the holocost because if they hadn't been jewish it wouldn't have happened. The victim is never to blame.

 

[DonMartin]

Entirely not true. Rapists don't pick the sexiest victim available. They pick one that reminds them of someone in their lives. A fat, ugly girl is just as likely to be raped as a supermodel - possibly moreso since there are more fat, ugly people in normal life.

You are talking about stranger rape. This is, by far, the least common type of rape there is.

Im not saying you're wrong, you just made me realize that a lot of people here seem to have a very strange definition of a "rapist", or atleast that's the impression I get. I'm not saying you're one of them, but your post is what made me write this one.



Come now, people, most people found guilty are NOT serial rapists, or people with a desire to rape, that being the only thing they get off from. A "rapist" is someone who is guilty of rape.

The most common kind of rape is acquaintance rape, rape by someone you know. A friend, someone you've met. A date. A cute guy (seeing as how most rape victims are women) that you like but all of a sudden goes a bit too far. Someone who is obsessed with a particular person, and finally cant stand it any more. A husband raping his wife. A boyfriend raping his girlfriend. This kind is by far the absolutely most common type of rape.

Just because the most publicised kind of rape is stranger rape doesnt make it the most common one, folks. A rapist isnt just someone out there raping people. As soon as two people have "sex" and one of them doesnt want to, the other one is a rapist.

 

[b3nn3tt]

I don't think that saying that women shouldn't dress provocatively is necessarily 'blaming the victim'. It's a bit of advice to minimise risk, it's not the same as saying that it's their fault they got raped

Someone's already used an analogy that I like to use in this situation, of walking around flashing a wad of money in a bad neighbourhood. It's not your fault if you get mugged, because it's never the victim's fault, but you could certainly have done something to lessent the chances of it happening

Similarly, with rape, it is never the victim's fault. Never. But there are a number of measures that can be taken to minimise the risk of rape, such as always staying close to a friend, not going anywhere by yourself, not leaving drinks unattended, etc.

Is it the victim's fault? No, never. Can steps be taken to ensure that nothing happens in the first place? Yes

 

[PatSilverFox]

Yes it can be the victims fault.
They can wear skimpy clothing and act slutty and taunt men. Get a bit drunk and then change their minds after the fact.

It is possible, but not all cases.

 

[BanthaFodder]

it's horrible, but I think that's just human nature nowadays. there's so many liars and so many biased news sources, we always feel we need to hear the other side of the story (ie. one person hears "police officers arrest a Mexican drug lord", another person hears "power-hungry cops brutalize minority".)

it's just idiots being idiots.
as for the "women shouldn't dress like sluts" thing... I KINDA agree with it (but let me explain first).
It's sort of like saying "you shouldn't walk through a bad part of town with a huge wad of cash hanging out of your pocket."
people who say "she was asking for it" are dumb, horrible asshats. but yeah, if you know that you'll be in a bad part of town, I would suggest you take no chances. stay with a friend, avoid dark allyways, basically don't do anything that could provoke someone or make you appear to be an easy target. sometimes it can't be prevented, but the chances of it happening will be GREATLY reduced if you don't take any unnessicary risks.
once again, I'm not saying that if you dress like a slut, you deserve to be raped. I'm saying that if you dress like a slut, there's a better chance of you BEING raped, so I would advise you take precaution.
for example, if you have a few beers and decide to drive yourself home, you don't DESERVE to be killed in a horrible accident. however, if you have a few beers and decide to drive yourself home, there's a better chance of you being killed in a horrible accident. take preventative measures and use good judgement to ensure you stay safe.
I am in no way blaming the victim, I'm not acting as Captain Hindsight ("if you didn't wear a miniskirt, you wouldn't have been raped!"), I'm just saying that there are horrible people in the world and you should always take precaution to prevent becoming one of the countless victims.

Rape is a horrible, horrible thing, and every measure should be taken to ensure it doesn't happen.

I'm sorry for rambling, it's just that htis particular opiion of mine is very hard to explain without accidentally sounding like one of the throngs of horrible gobshites ("she shouldn't have led those 5 grown men on, the slut!").

 

[Enkidu88]

As a male I find it insulting that the cop in Toronto, or people like him, think males are so primitive that we can't restrain ourselves from leaping on the first attractive woman we see and rape her. I mean that's really the implication of the statement, don't wear revealing clothes because anyone with Y-chromosome has no self control or a sense of right and wrong.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Wearing provocative clothing might make a woman a more appealing target, that doesn't make the perpetrator any less of a scumbag. The provocative clothing doesn't completely eliminate his ability to reason.

Yeah, it's insulting to think they're assuming males cannot control themselves in the presence of some boobies. Complete and utter crap.

 

[KiruTheMant]

That line of thinking is dangerous.
"You just shot that guy!"
"He was acting like a douchebag. He was asking for it."

Only if you're a deliberate idiot about it. Frankly it's been proven that rape is the fault of the perpetrator but in other cases yes, sometimes people get themselves into trouble. It's like walking into a road and expecting the cars to get out of the way.

Imagine if I walked up to you in a bar and told some guy I fucked his mother so hard I split her in half, he then understandably punches me. I am technically the victim of assault and battery...but by God I caused it!

I fail to see how wearing revealing clothing is walking by someone going "Molest me! You won't do it!".

Imagine you dress to appeal to others, you do appeal to others, yes, but the issue it, You appeal to others. You are not at fault if some dumbass comes up and does the Baloney Shuffle against your will, but by god you sparked it. I'm going to go the "Its not your fault except in your dress choices." road as opposed to the "Its her fault for appealing the person so much they go insane." road.