why are women often blamed for being raped?

Question

why do people often blame the way women dress for being raped? or if they flirt with a man? why do people think this therefore gives a man the right to rape somebody? why can't these rapists gain some willpower to resist? also, the argument is flawed as most women who are raped arn't wearing revealing clothes or drunk. surely it's a womens right to wear what she wants without fear of being raped.

a few people have mentioned people dont. this question has come from a few people i have spoken to about and some views i have read or seen on the t.v

to cw, it's different as a shark acts on impulse while a human being should be capable of rational thought

Answer 1

Speaking as someone who has a great deal of personal experience in this area, I could not agree with you more. I unfortnuately was brutally raped about a year ago and I was brave enough to come forward and accuse my attacker. I was victimized by the rapist and I was also victimized by the lovely judicial system that we have in this country. They treated ME like the criminal analyzing everything I had done in the time period that I knew the person. The fact of the matter is that I was violently raped (the rape-kit proved that) and all they cared about was what I had been wearing, what I could have talked about in conversations, etc. etc. etc. Not to discourage you, but I eventually had to drop the case against the bastard for those reasons. There is one more rapist who will remain on the streets being allowed to perhaps rape our mothers, sisters and daughters. We need to change the system IMMEDIATELY and I have already written letters to my congressmen to try and get some satisfaction, but we all need to unite and make sure that we protect people from rapists like this~!

Answer 2

Yes it is a woman right to wear what she wants, say what she wants and not to get raped as a result.

The women are often blamed though, due to a surprising number of false claims and police reports filed by bitter, vengefully women. In New York city alone 23% of the rape cases opened were found to be false. These men who are falsely accused may never fully recover their lives. Many lose their wives, careers and most of their money defending themselves against a false claim and even if/when the win, the still are left with nothing.

It is important that you realize that rape, like any crime must be investigated fully, and that sometimes means attacking the story/conditions of the crime. It is a hard area because, it is (with exception to brutal attacks) almost entirely based on someone (the victim's) word over anothers (the accused).

When legal arguments are based solely on testimony then the attacks/allegations are that much more vehement.

Answer 3

I think that this attitude comes from the general breakdown of society that has lost the respect for the fairer sex.
Young men are not taught anything anymore. Especially if they come from a fatherless home or a home where the re are multiple fathers for the siblings.
I must state that it also comes from girls wearing, from a very young age, things that they should not wear.
Dressing like a prostitute (another thing to thank Madonna for!) tends to attract the guys that go to prostitutes and these same guys have no respect.
The argument is like this- why put out the bait if you are not fishing or why advertize if you are not selling.

I DO NOT prescribe to these points of view, but that is much of the reasoning behind the blaming of women.

I agree that the criminal is ALWAYS the party in the wrong! NOT the victim!

Having said that, I still think that because this IS a reason the rapists give, one should consider dressing more modestly.

It is the equivalent to locking you car door.

you know there are thieves, so why would you leave your car unlocked and the keys in the ignition?

Answer 4

Because people search for the easiest solution, and because it is hard to prove the perpetrator's guilt and hard to stop the problem, they blame the victim. It is blame, but it is also fear and ingnorantly trying to help: If you don't dress this way/act this way it won't happen to you. Some people like to believe that if they don't dress/act a certain way it won't happen to them. There is also a myth that the woman must have intoxicated the man with her sexuality and he couldn't control himself. I don't know how people can buy into that with a clean conscience.

However, a lot of women who are raped ARE drunk (at least on college campuses)--they are in a weakened state and are easier targets than sober women in party/bar situations. Women do have to be very careful about their drinks--I know someone who was slipped the date-rape drug in a bar. This in no way excuses the rapes, but is a sad truth.

Answer 5

Women are raped even in muslim countries where the burkha is supposed to 'protect' them. I am incensed also at a judge's decision today in the UK who let off an indian man , describing him as a 'geeky' rather than dangerous, who sexually molested a young woman on the grounds that the man is new to the country and unused to the 'ways of the west'. !!! Oh and that he should write a letter of apology to the woman. Apart from a few really stupid females who make false accusations that makes it more difficult for bona fide cases, the system is still locked in the belief that women are somehow responsible, and my guess is because at the back of the judges minds 'she' is provocative because she is a woman. There are men who are also raped, I wonder what they think then? I bet they wonder if the guy was somehow responsible because he was gay or effeminate?

The victim, male or female is a victim twice. There's nearly always doubt in the law. It stinks.

Answer 6

They are trying to justify their actions. While rape is a terrible thing, and I doubt it's only women dressed in "slutty" clothes that get raped, I certainly don't think that women have a right to get upset when guys are "eye raping" them. (which is essentially just staring at various parts of the body.)

Don't want to be stared at? Don't walk into public with a skirt shorter than a guys attention span. :P

But yeah, there is no valid excuse for rape. No matter what they say, they are just being idiots.

Answer 7

They are called 'rape myths'. The basic theory is that we need ways to learn and remember rules and we do that by telling stories. There are lots of myths in society, we tell them about other races, cultures and religions. We also tell them about situations.

Rape myths serve a purpose. Rape makes people feel uncomfortable and at risk. So the common myths are;
1) Only monsters do this. (I would spot a monster, so no one I know would do this, so I feel safe).
2) She asked for it. (I don't behave that way so I'm safe).
3) She shouldn't have been there. Pub/club/hitchiking. (Idon't do those things or go to those places so I'm safe).
4) She must have asked for it. (I don't ask for it so I'm safe).

People repeat the myth, because it makes them feel less at risk. The facts about rape are very different from the myths, there is loads of info from the rape crisis website and other places if you want to increase your safety.
There are 3 types of rape; the power rape, the anger rape, and the sadistic rape. Every attack falls into one of these categories. Rape has nothing to do with sexual desire.

We also have a tendancy to blame the victim for their own misfortune, and to shoot the messenger. We are more likely to be sympathetic to someone we know than a stranger. These behaviours don't actually make good sense but we still do them.

Apologies for the daft joke avatar, I'm female if that helps.

Answer 8

Because we live in a culture where people rarely hold anyone accountable for their actions. So, it's easy to blame someone else.

It's also a function of the rape laws. By the basic definition, a person can't be guilty of rape if the other person consents. So, the easiest defense to assert is consent. And under the law, consent may be either explicit or implied by conduct. So attacking the victim creates an opening where the defense may attempt to prove the rapist was acting under a belief of implied consent.

It's terrible. But it happens.

Answer 9

Rape is not usually a sexual thing, it's a control thing. If a Woman dresses up revealing everything she was born with, yet won't give it up, then she's considered a tease. Then a Man (a real sick man) will force himself on her to show her he's the one in control and she has no say to it.

Women have every right to wear what they want, but why wear mini's with low cut tops? certainly they do not do it to attract other women. Dress conservatively, and you have creeps all over you. A rapist could care less what you wear, but will most likely go after someone who dresses like a prostitute, but claims to be a nice girl. Please do not take offense to my answer, I respect all Women.

Answer 10

Most women accused of "causing her own rape" are ACCUSED BY THE DEFEDANTS ATTORNEY! No one else. Its his "job" to get his client out of hot water and the easiest way to do this is point the finger BACK at the woman. Not nice, not pretty and not kind. But, sometimes, sadly, accurate. It is MY opinion that this is what happened in Kobe Bryants case, a middle class girl saw a chance at a nice looking, successful, rich sports star and went after it. Later she changed her mind but the "deed" was done. So she made a few hundred thousand off of it. Not pretty but, in her mind, no one got "hurt."

So, this is usually very wrong of the defendants attorney and very rarely, dead-on.

I'm with you, it shouldn't matter how she dresses, how she walks, talks or acts, the very fact that no, means no is ENOUGH. If someone can't accept that fact, they have much bigger issues than they can deal with and will end up in prison one way or another, sooner or later. If not from rape, then from probably spousal abuse or something else.

I feel listen to the woman first, then consider the mans side.