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Essay on victim blaming
Sexual assault prevention education essay
Essay on victim blaming
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Recommended: Essay on victim blaming
Tiffannie Boyd
Topic Proposal
English 112
June 15, 2016
Victim Blaming is Never an Answer
Victim blaming: Victim blaming is a devaluing act where the victim of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment is held as wholly or partially responsible for the wrongful conduct committed against them (USLegal, 2001).
For this assignment I am planning to research and gather multiple issues of the cause and ways to help either eliminate or fix the problem. In this writing project I plan to show different sides of the issue at hand and not just when it comes to rape but, sexual assault also. I plan to show ways to either help a victim who has been through this and how others can do their part. I want people to understand that you cannot
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I believe rap or sexual assault can happen to anyone and that’s why the public needs to be informed. There is no age or group for a predator because it could be anyone and that’s why this targets all of society who feels the need to blame the victim and never the offender for their actions. There reason being that every time the public or others blame the victim, you risk another rape or sexual assault going uncovered and unsolved. The reason for this is, because the victim is too shamed to come forward and feels like they are a fault. By educating the public on this issue we can instead encourage victims to come forward and get the help and justice they truly deserve. Victims should never be afraid to come forward and tell …show more content…
How come the victims never come forward?
Annotations:
Mantel, Barbara. “Campus Sexual Assault.” CQ Researcher. CQ Press, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
• The Use: I am using this to make a point when it comes to sexual assaults and rape on campus. How many are covered up and how many are reported because, the victims are afraid of the after math and now one believing them.
Urbina, Ian. “The Challenge of Defining Rape.” New York Times. 12 Oct. 2014: SR.12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
• The Use: I am using this to explain what rape is. I am going to use it from both sides of people that are victims and ones that aren’t and don’t understand what rape truly is.
Harding, Kate. “How I Bluffed My Way through College.” Salon. Salon Media Group, 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
• The Use: To show what rape is and how is affects a person for the rest of their life.
Koons, Jennifer. “Sexual Assault in the Military.” CQ Researcher. CQ Press, 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
• The Use: To educate the public on how our men and women overseas and fighting for us have to not only go through this but, face issues like us of not telling someone out of fear and also with how to handle the
As Estrich demonstrates, the law on rape has major flaws. The law exposes traditions and attitudes that surround women and sex. It condones the idea that sex contains male aggression and female passivity. The law uses three different criteria to label an act of sex as rape: mens rea, force, and consent. Estrich feels that these features demonstrate sexist attitudes within the law. Our legal system abandon’s mens rea which is Latin for “guilty state of the mind.” It is the perpetrator’s ability to understand force and non-consent. A woman must demonstrate resistance. The man can escape by stating he did not realize the woman was not consenting. So, the court turns to the woman to see if she provided proper evidence that she did not consent to the sex.
The trial of 19 year old Owen Laurie has brought into light the alarming rate in which Sexual assault is rising. The issue that rages on in Colleges is said to be making its way to high schools and primary school. In a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Violence Prevention, 19% of Undergraduate women experienced
Due to advances made by the American mass media, the way Americans react to and interact with rape culture has changed dramatically changed from 1960 to the present. News coverage of major rape trials, movies and books involving rape have caused the American people to change their perspectives and reshape the way trials are carried out and the way female rape victims are viewed and treated during and after trials. During the 1960’s, due to societal and religious conventions, a victim’s history, chastity, and moral character were brought to light to serve as attestation against the claimant. After the feminist movement took off in the 1970’s, laws regarding this topic began to change drastically and hard facts and witnesses began being used to determine outcomes of cases. Although news stations, movies, and novels can further new ideas and offer the American people an insight into rape law and culture reform, they often set some of the forward progress back by promoting “traditional” views of rape, rape culture, and rape myths, in which the victim is made into a provocateur. In order to prevent this heinous crime from occuring, or at least reduce the ever increasing number of incidents, Americans must take it upon themselves to become educated upon the topic of rape. This means that they must collectively decide to see only the facts presented in a case, tell the difference between truth and rape myths perpetuated by society, and understand the long term and short term effects experienced by victims before, during, and after the trial, regardless of the situation.
One of the most horrible things that has erupted from the subjugation of women is rape culture. Rape culture is the downplaying of the crime of rape to appease the violator, the accusation that the victim made a choice that led to their rape, or even jokes that suggest rape. According to Jessica Valenti’s, “In Rape Tragedies, the Shame Is Ours,” in today's world many people give in to rape culture by participating in these acts that somehow change our mindsets into believing that, “it is more shameful to be raped than to be a rapist”. Once ...
When it comes to sexual assault on college campuses there is also the question of what can colleges do to decrease the amount of sexual assaults. Bradford Richardson and Jon A Shields wondered the same thing, so they conducted an ...
Sexual violence can happen to anyone. In fact, one out of every six women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. Although, it is women who are targeted most often, it is important to understand that rape can occur to any person, regardless of various factors such as age, race, sex, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. What many people do not ponder is that most of the time when a woman is raped, she is actually blamed for the assault. As Aosved mentions in her article titled, ‘Co-occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance, Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Ageism, Classism, and Religious Intolerance’, she states
“The total number of reports of sexual assaults is up 11 percent over the previous year, and 70 percent over 2012, but officials said increased reporting is a sign of better confidence in the system.”(Hlad)
Unfortunately, rape is a traumatizing event to happen to an individual that can have lifelong effects on the individual physical, mental, and emotional state. Many victims elect not to report the crime to law enforcement in order to put the past behind them. Nonetheless, there are numerous explanations on why this crime is not heavily conveyed to the police. First, there is a sense of renunciation for the victim; particularly if the rape was brought on by someone they know (Burgess, Regehr, & Roberts, 2013, p. 375). In the event that this occurs, the victim could try to evade the topic of what has transpired to them to de-escalate their sense of embarrassment and shame. Second, the victim’s fear of the legal system could avert them from also reporting the crime (Burgess, Regehr, & Roberts, 2013, p.
About one in four women are victims of sexual assault in college, but there are ways to prevent this problem. The consequences of sexual assault are harmful and long-lasting and affect not only the victims but also their families and communities. Solutions to this problem _______. But, as Richard Edwards, chancellor of Rutgers-New Brunswick college said, “Regardless of the number, it’s a major problem, affecting our students and people all across the country and it has to be taken seriously” (5). If people work together, the steps can be taken to stop sexual assault in colleges.
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
One in every six women and one in every thirty-three men has been reported being raped. Usually women are raped under the age of eighteen and men under the age of twelve. Women are more likely to report rape than men. Out of high school youth nationwide, nine percent reported they have been raped. Among college students nationwide, between twenty and twenty-five percent of women reported completed of attempted rape. Among adults nationwide, more than 300,000 women and over 90,000
The language that our culture uses toward such terrible crimes must change; we must amend the way that we think about rape and the validity that we have given to rape
Sexual violence is a national issue that permeates every aspect society. Sexual assault and rape is an ongoing problem, evident by the troubling statistic that roughly 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Ruggiero, Conoscenti, McCauley, 2007). Despite the continuous push for gender equality, the current culture of society perpetuates victim-blaming tendencies towards innate cognitive processes and media influences.
On most occasions, victims will not report their abuse because of fear of rejection from society. Victims are afraid of many possible outcomes of confessing such as others will not believe their story, they may be blamed for being abused, or the victim becomes dependent on the abuse or abuser. They may be so worn down that mentally and emotionally they cannot fight their circumstances. It is also possible for victims to feel as though it is their fault because they did or could not fight back. Getting help and reaching out to overcome or deal with sexual abuse is important for a victim.
Assigning blame has become an increasingly difficult and complex concept to understand, especially in our legal court system. I associate blame with being held responsible for the consequences of one’s intentional actions. In regards to sexual assault cases, I think the blame should not be placed on the victims, but rather on the perpetrators. Victim blaming justifies the perpetrator’s actions, discourages sexual assault reportings, and can have psychological effects on the victim.