Why we should stop victim blaming and what can you do to prevent rape.

Photo is originally mine

Rape is ranked higher in my list compared to Murder is because unlike murder, the victim’s suffering continues! True, both events can have lasting effects on family members but rape victims have to deal with the acute and chronic psychological trauma of rape.

Furthermore, the physical insults and diseases they contracted can greatly hamper their quality of life – If they get Hepatitis B/C or HIV, they may have to forego their dreams of becoming doctors or healthcare workers because they pose risk to patients; they have to struggle with the stigma from being a carrier of these viruses even though they did nothing to deserve it; And it’s harder for them to establish a family and if they do, they don’t get to live like normal couples do because if their disease state.

And it gets more unfair because rape victims are often to blame and said to be ‘asking for it’, thanks to the messed up culture of Victim blaming. That’s like blaming someone for having a house in cases of home burglary. From the Austin Jones’ debacle to Rob Kardashian’s incident, it’s just absurd to think that we have to construct an analogy to explain why like other crimes, rape victims aren’t at fault.

This diagram illustrates the cycle of victim-blaming through normalisation.

Photo source

What can you do?

1. EDUCATE MEN IN YOUR FAMILY TO RESPECT WOMEN AND THAT RAPE IS A CRIME
2. STOP THE NORMALISATION OF RAPE JOKES AND SEXUAL MISBEHAVIOUR
3. TAKE RAPE VICTIM SERIOUSLY