Victimblaming: How Victim Becomes Accused

[Brother]

Every person wants the world to be just: good is rewarded, evil is punished. Such a thirst for justice leads a person to the fact that he begins to look for the reasons for the events that have occurred, no matter good or bad. This gave rise to a phenomenon called victim blaming.

Victim blaming - blaming the victim. In other words, the victims of crime or tragedy are themselves responsible for what happened to them. Victimblaming allows other people to trust that bad things will never happen to them. This is a kind of psychological defense method.

Famous example of victimblaming​

When violence is reported in the news , many questions focus on what the victims were doing, what they were wearing, that is, what could have triggered the attack.

In 2002, the world was shocked by news from the US state of Utah about the kidnapping of fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart. The girl was kidnapped from her own bedroom in Salt Lake City. It is known that the perpetrator threatened her with a knife. The girl spent the next nine months in captivity with her captors, Wanda Barzi and Brian Mitchell. After she was rescued, and the public learned the details of her captivity, many people were interested in the questions why Elizabeth did not resist during the abduction, why she did not try to escape afterwards or somehow call for help and why she was abducted.

Such questions, unfortunately, are not uncommon after people hear about a terrible event. And the only "why" that should worry people when such questions arise: why, after a terrible crime, people blame the victim for what happened?

Why is it so dangerous?​

Victimblaming marginalizes the victim and makes it difficult to report abuse. If a survivor of abuse knows that society will blame him for what happened, he will not feel safe reporting the crime and seeking help.

Victimblaming reinforce the words of the perpetrator that everything happened through the fault of the victim. In fact, it is not the victim's fault or responsibility, but the choice of the offender. A victim-blaming society allows criminals to commit violence while avoiding responsibility for their actions.

Victimblaming: where the legs grow from​

So what is behind this tendency to blame the victim? Victimology - the teaching about the victim of a crime - identifies three reasons.

Fundamental attribution error​

One psychological phenomenon that contributes to this tendency to place blame on the victim himself is called fundamental attribution error.

This concept implies a person's tendency to ascribe their personal characteristics to the behavior of other people, while ignoring the significance of external influences, which could also play a role in the occurrence of a particular situation.

For example, when someone fails an exam, you are more likely to attribute the result to their intrinsic characteristics: decide that they did not study well, that they were not smart enough, or that they were just lazy. But if you yourself did not pass the exam, what reason would you give? In many cases, people blame external sources for their failures. You will make excuses that it was so hot in the classroom that you were unable to concentrate, or that the instructor gave the test unfairly or included too many difficult questions in the exam.

Retrospective​

Another problem that contributes to victim blaming is the propensity of people to retrospect.

When analyzing the event that happened, we tend to believe that there were prerequisites for this event that we should have seen and predicted the result.

This hindsight leads us to think that those affected by an accident, crime, or other form of misfortune should have been able to predict and prevent any problem that might overtake them.

And this applies not only to various kinds of attacks, robberies and forms of violence. When someone falls ill, people often tend to blame their behavior in the past, believing that this is what brought the person's health to the current state.

Cancer? He had to quit smoking. Heart disease? Well, he had to train harder. Food poisoning? Shouldn't have eaten at this new restaurant.

Such accusations suggest that a person should know or expect bad things, although in reality it is impossible to predict the outcome in advance.

The phenomenon of a just world​

Finally, victimology believes that victim-blaming is largely rooted in the human need to believe that justice prevails in the world. An accident among friends causes not only compassion, but also the thought that everything was not accidental and, probably, they did something to deserve such a fate. This inclination is called belief in a just world.

This concept was first formulated in the early 1960s by Melvin Lernor, professor of social psychology at the University of Waterloo. Melvin Lerner and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments that led to the following conclusion: just observing how an innocent person is punished is enough to make him seem less worthy.

One of Lerner's experiments was as follows. The girl was seated at the table and given mathematical problems, for the wrong solutions of which she was shocked. 72 people were asked to follow what was happening, and then - to give their comments. The observers did not know that the main participant in the experiment was an actress who only pretended to receive current charges.

At first, the participants in the experiment sympathized with the girl. But as the victim's suffering continued, and the observers could not stop it, they began to speak negatively about the girl. People were not satisfied with her appearance, her character. The more the girl was tortured, the angrier the comments about her became. But after the announcement to the participants that the girl's participation in the experiment would be compensated by money, the attacks stopped.

According to Lerner, such a reaction of the subjects is the result of a person's desire for justice. The unreasonable suffering of an innocent girl did not confirm this desire, so a psychological justification was required. This hypothesis was tested by Lerner in a number of other experiments. He published their results in the article "Research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead" and The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion.

Why do we feel this need to believe in the justice of the world and the boomerang law, according to which people get only what they deserve?

Because if we understand that the world is not fair at all, then it becomes obvious that any person can become a victim of a tragedy. Even you, your family, your friends and other close people. As careful and conscientious as you are, bad things can and do happen even to good people.

But the belief in the absolute justice of the world, the belief that people deserve what is happening, and the position "it is his own fault" do not destroy our idea that bad events will never happen to us.

How to deal with victimblaming: practical recommendations​

Resolving the issue is an unambiguously voluminous and complex task that requires a systematic approach on the part of the state and each person individually. It is impossible to completely change the thinking of the current generation, but the scientific community, coupled with the legal framework, can develop measures to prevent the occurrence of victim blaming in future generations. And now everyone can do 2 simple exercises developed by Julia Penelope, a linguist and philosopher, and Connie Borkenhagen, editorial staff of the American Bar Association law magazine.

Work out the wording of the accusations​

One of the biggest sources of victim blaming is our language, which is how we talk about an event. When talking about what happened, try to use the correct wording. For example:

• "John beat Mary." This sentence is written in active voice. It is clear who is committing the violence.
• "Mary was beaten by John." The sentence was changed to the passive voice, so Mary goes first.
• "Mary was beaten." Please note that charges have been dropped against John.
• "Mary is the woman who was beaten." Being beaten by a woman is now part of Mary's personality, and John is not part of the affirmation.

The focus shifted completely from John to Mary, encouraging the audience to focus on the actions of the victim rather than the actions of the perpetrator. Only the first formulation gives the listener an understanding of who is actually to blame for what happened.

Exercise to illustrate victim blaming​

The following exercise is intended to highlight the frequent victim blame that occurs in various cases. Imagine that the questions that the victims of violence are asked were the victim of a robbery:

- Mr. Smith, you were detained at gunpoint at the corner of the first and main streets?
- Well, yes.

- Did you fight the robber?
- No.

- Why didn't you fight?
- He was armed.

- So you made a conscious decision to obey his demands, and not resist?
- Well, yes.

- Did you shout?
- No, I was just scared.

- Clear. Have you ever been robbed before?
- No.

- Have you ever made a donation? Did you give money for free?
- Oh sure.

- You and this time willingly did so?
- What are you driving at?

- Well, let's just say, Mr. Smith. In the past, you gave away money for free. You have a pretty good reputation as a philanthropist. Can we be sure that your money was taken by force?
- Listen ...

- Not worth it. What time were you robbed?
- Around 11 pm.

- Were you outside at 11 pm? What did you do?
- Just walking.

- Just walking? You know how dangerous it is to be outside at such a late hour. Didn't you know that you might have been robbed?
- I never thought about it.

- What were you wearing, Mr. Smith?
- It seems, uh ... a suit. Yes, a suit.

- Expensive suit?
- Well, yes. I'm a successful lawyer, you know.

“In other words, Mr. Smith, you walked outside late at night in a suit that practically advertised the fact that you could be a good target for easy money, right? I mean, you might even think that you yourself wanted to be robbed.

Run all accusations through the lens of this exercise. Reframe the question "Why did the victim do this?" on "Why did a criminal abuse the position of a person?"

Bad things can and probably will happen to people. But now, the next time you catch yourself condemning the victim, take some time to consider the psychological attributions and biases that affect your judgment. And our Mental Self-Regulation online program will teach you how to manage your emotions and adapt to stressful environments.

And one more thing: if you want to understand the topic of victim blaming in more detail, you can read some interesting books:

• “Victimology. Psychology of victim behavior", IG Malkina-Pykh.
• Moral Harassment by MF Iriguyan.
• “Protection of the rights of victims of crime at the international level and in Russia”, E. Varpakhovskaya.
• A collection of articles “From sacrifice to winners. Victimology ", D. M. Toych, C. K. Toych.

We wish you every success!