I am an avid Tumblr user. I am addicted, I won't deny it. Everyday I see at least 20 posts discouraging and teaching against rape culture and victim blaming. Victim blaming is when a person or a group of people allude that the victim is partially or entirely the responsible for their victimization. This term does not only pertain to rape culture, it can also be used for things like robberies (ex. leaving a valuable possession in plain sight and unattended).
The most creative post I have seen so far shaming victim blaming is a photo set of about 12 female, well recognized (such as Jasmine from Aladin, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, etc.) characters stating that they are not "asking for it." These characters range from covered all the way, wear seashells to cover breasts and even showing their stomachs. The statement being made is that no matter how a person dresses, if consent is not given, things should not escalate.
On August 26, 2013, a Montana District Judge decided a repetitive sex offender and school teacher should only serve a 30 day sentence as well as being a registered sex offender. While 30 days, in my opinion, is an extremely low number for a sex offender, especially a former teacher, this is not the alarming part of the story. Judge Baugh said that the deceased (committed suicide) high school student was just "as much in control of the situation" and that she was "older than her chronological age." While judges do make statements to impress upon future legislation, this statement is alarming.
http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2013/08/29/victim-blaming-judge-gives-rapist-30-day-sentence/
In 2010, BBC News released results from a poll taken on rape. The survey interviewed 1,000 Londoners. "Of the women who believed some victims should take responsibility, 71% thought a person should accept responsibility when getting into bed with someone, compared with 57% of men." Some women even stated that they weren't sure that they'd notify the police if they were sexually assaulted. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8515592.stm
Why is this?
While the media seems to encourage hyper sexualization and freedom of expression, it has a way of condemning those who partake in this freedom. If you take a look at discussion boards, you often see commenters blaming the victim in some form or fashion for what happened to them. Yes, safety precautions should be taken when going out at night or alone, but we should never make a victim feel guilty for what happens to them. Instead of encouraging and teaching victim blaming, we should push the importance in consent.
A petition has been started to have Judge Baugh resign on moveon.org. Victim blaming should not be tolerated anywhere, especially on the bench.
This was a well thought out post that was easy to read. Those statistics that you mentioned are alarming to me. When you mentioned that 71% of women believe that a person should accept responsibility when getting into bed, that is troubling to me. Just because a woman gets in bed with a man does not mean she is "asking for it". I think that is the point you were making as well. While I do believe that if a woman does not want to sleep with a man then she should not be in bed with him at all, but that is beyond the point. How can people feel that a rape victim has some responsibility? It is rape for a reason, they did not consent to it and were forced into something they did not want. I agree that 30 days for that sentence was too short. Girls definitely should be more aware when they go out, such as always staying next to a friend and never walking outside alone. Overall I agree with the points you were making; if consent is not given, then nothing should happen.
ReplyDeleteI find it extremely disturbing that a judge would sentence a repetitive sex offender to a 30 day sentence, and then say that the victim who is a high school student was just as responsible. Sure that teen may know what sex is, but at the end of the day the teacher is the adult in the situation. The fact that this teacher is a REPETITIVE offender make it worse, this judge is blowing this off and not reprimanding this person at all. I think rape should be taken seriously and this judge is discouraging women, let alone children such as high school students from standing up against it.
ReplyDelete