Victim blaming occurs when the victim(s) of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment are held entirely or partially responsible for the transgressions committed against them (regardless of whether the victim actually had any responsibility for the incident). Blaming the victim has traditionally emerged especially in racist, sexist, and classist forms. However, this attitude may exist independently from these radical views and even be at least half-official in some countries.
People familiar with victimology are much less likely to see the victim as responsible. Knowledge about prior relationship between victim and perpetrator increases perceptions of victim blame for rape, but not for robbery.
Read more about Victim Blaming: History and Concept, Secondary Victimization, Rape Shield Laws, Just-world Hypothesis, Family Honour and Sexual Purity
Famous quotes containing the words victim and/or blaming:
“John F. Kennedy was the victim of the hate that was a part of our country. It is a disease that occupies the minds of the few but brings danger to the many.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin’s Russia: it’s like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.”
—Tony Benn (b. 1925)