Sexual Assault Victim Blaming

Furthermore, Griffin commonly sites credible studies and explores historical moments to provide context and support for her claims. One article in particular written by Griffin (1971) demonstrates her masterful use of ethos, “Rape: The All-American Crime.” This article was the first of its kind as it discusses rape from a feminist perspective and challenges common beliefs about rape. Up until this point rape and sexual violence was rarely discussed and when it was it was by a man. Griffin begins the article by explaining her credentials, describing her personal experiences with rape culture in America, and illustrating the urgency with which women and victims need to be heard.

Rape myths are at the center of the problem of how rape and sexual assault cases are looked at, and treated as in society. Rape myths vary, some excuse the rape, others try to minimize the severity of the situation, while others doubt the act even happened in the first place (Levit and Verchick, 196). Some examples of rape myths include: a victim was “asking for it,” a victim’s previous sexual history, regretful sex is not rape, a woman’s “no” means “yes,” and women lie about rape all the time. Rape myths are targeted towards women, not the rapist. Despite, rape myths being proved false by empirical evidence, they are still prevalent in society.

It is prevalent for victims of rape to be told they are reliable for the situation. Those who misconcep this topic are ignorant to the factual data. The reason a criminal had convicted this type of crime has no relation to actions of the victim. Victim blaming influences the attitude of society which alters how rape victims are perceived and contributes as false support for the criminal. A simple example of victim blaming comes from the article The Offenders, “She must have provoked him into being abusive.

In general, people labeled as victims often feel guilty for being a victim and do not report the offense. In cases of sexual harassment between students, both classmates and administrators often victim blame the female in the situation. Victim blaming claims that women caused the harassment by dressing and acting inappropriately. “[These] judgements create an environment in which it becomes unlikely that the target of harassment will feel justified and supported in claiming her rights” (Chamberlain). However, sexual harassment “is a part of the larger framework of oppression that subordinates females to male in a complex, deeply enculturated patriarchal system of compulsory heterosexuality” (Chamberlain).

American culture in the 1970’s witnessed a pivotal shift in the public understanding of sexual violence. The second wave feminist movement brought about the first public discussions of rape as a personal experience and a widespread social problem. Modern understanding and modes of criticism of rape largely stem from this moment that publicized issues, which previously had been private matters. Before this time, since there had been no public discourse concerning sexual violence there could be no widespread ideological development.

In their opinion piece published in the New York Times, Miriam Gleckman-Krut and Nicole Bedera, two students from University of Michigan, claim that students being accused of sexual assault on-campus should not be the ones providing the definition of sexual assault because more victims will stay silent. Their article tackles the research question “how does allowing the accused to define sexual assault affect the victim?”. The piece was written in response to Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, who claimed that former President Obama’s policies on on-campus rape stripped the accused of their liberties because less evidence was required from the victims, who often struggle to create concreate evidence due to trauma or difficulty remembering.

The rape myths that R. v. Ewanchuk includes within its case is heavily linked to the social construction of males and females involved in sexual assault cases. The outcome of this case largely impacted the feminist movement in a strong way. This case changed the future of sexual assault cases within many ways. To begin with, consent must be determined from the complainants/victims mind opposed to his or her actions. Secondly, there are many forms of physical actions along with verbal ways of issuing to refuse consent.

In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.

Sexual assault is complex, guileful and ubiquitous. The criminal justice system is expected to deliver a sense that justice has been done, yet its current response is inadequate for the large majority of sexual assault victims. Victims of sexual assault have historically been met with denial and disbelief, with society failing to develop an adequate response to a crime. In recent decades, hard won improvements - called for by reformers and feminists, and implemented by well-intentioned governments - have seen sexual assault taken more seriously in legal and political arenas alike. Investigation, prosecution and court procedures have improved; specialization has been encouraged; and victims have been provided with fairer treatment and additional

Meaning that it is not a naturally ascending or objective category, but one that requires certain attributes and elements on the victim’s part. There are certain expectations attached to the label ‘victim’, meaning not everyone will acquire the label in news reports. (Walklate, 2005) Many could claim that children are the archetypal innocent victims and key symbols in the media’s construction of crime, this is true in many cases. (Surette, 2014)

Building upon earlier work, they used approximately 4,500 female college students to report their sexual victimization. The analysis revealed few incidents, including rapes, are reported to police and/or campus authorities, a high portion disclosing to close friends. Gillibrand, K., Rubenfeld, J., Sulkowicz, E., Hargitay, M., Sullivan, T., Biden, J., & ... Sommers, C. H. (2014). The Debate: How should college campuses handle sexual assault?.

Sexual assault is a basic violation of human rights involving perpetrators that still typically get their allotted sentence reduced with next to no punishment. As a result, victims are discouraged from reporting their assault. Out of every sexual assault charge, only six in every one-thousand rapist will be successfully prosecuted. One out of every six American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape in their lifetime with 14.8 percent completed, and 2.8 percent attempted. About three percent of American men, or one in thirty-three have experienced an attempted or completed rape at some point in their

Social gender roles played a part of the view of male victim blaming also the inconsideration of trauma. 10.Kaufman, A., Divasto, P., Jackson, R., Voorhees, D., & Christy, J. (1980). Male rape victims: Noninstitutionalized assault. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 137(2), 221-223. Neglect of male sexual assault in a community setting should be considered like a females.

Do victim precipitation theories mean victim blaming? Explain and evaluate. 1.0 Introduction of victim precipitation Victim precipitation theories generally involve an explanation of how an individual’s behavior may contribute to his or her own victimization. In future the victim precipitation is behavior by a victim that initiates subsequent behavior of the victimizer and the degree to which victim is responsible for own victimization Early attempts at studying victim behavior involved the development of typologies that allowed victimol-ogists to determine who was most responsible for the criminal incident offender or victim. For instance, Wolfgang first introduced the formal concept of victim precipitation in his seminal work on homicide in 1958 when he argued that, in some instances, the victim may initiate the behavior of the victimizer .

Sexual assault can either be verbal, physical or visual. Joan Van Niekers cited a recent report by the Human Sciences Research Council which revealed that 34% of learners experienced sexual harassment and other 14% were sexually harassed by teachers , therefore this clearly illustrates that sexual assault take place amongst learners in schools is somehow beyond control and happens in many occasions. In this essay, three causes of sexual assault