Why are most people usually unsympathetic towards female victims of horrible crimes like rape?

Question

hala L: Only verily ugly people can think there will be no one left and they will be the last person on earth a rapist find game.

Answer 1

In most instances, they believe that the rape victim was looking for it. There is also a disbelieve in the rape. This is one of the reasons rape victims don't make a case.

Answer 2

I believe people consciously or unconsciously treat rape victims unfairly because [as some have said already] they feel the woman has done something to bring it on herself i.e. wearing provocative clothing, flirting, being a tease. I also believe people act this way because the woman isn't "pure" anymore. She's tainted and dirty in a way that can't ever be erased. I believe that rape is a terrible crime and the fact that some people believe that flirtatious behavior or tight clothing is an excuse for rape is despicable. If a person walks down the street with a twenty dollar bill sticking out the back of their pants, is it right for a thief to steal it? Well, that person didn't protect their money carefully enough so it was okay for me to steal it. Absolutely NOT! I don't care if a woman walks down the street stark naked...it is up to men to be humane, responsible and control their impulses. Let the woman make a fool out of herself by being an idiot. (Not that I condone women acting like teases...that is very rude and misleading to men)

Answer 3

The Duke case is a minority. They only broadcasted that because it was bizarre and rare.

The fact is that most people don't lie, and rape isn't something to lie about.

Just look at all of those cultures where women are shamed for having any kind of sexual contact before getting married. Why on earth would they lie about being raped, when they know they would get stigmatized for being "tainted?"

The consequences of rape are often psychological and it's not easily visible like physical scars. Therefore, people have a hard time comprehending it because they didn't go through it. People can't see psychological scars like they can see visible scars. If they don't understand, how can they have sympathy?

Answer 4

I don't agree -- I think that people are sympathetic, as they should be. However, there is a problem, and it is that rape has become hostage to gender politics that is making men defensive about the issue. That does a disservice the victims. It would be far more beneficial to rape victims to get EVERYONE thinking that rapes occur at alarming numbers and that some false accusations of rape occur as well. The two are not mutually exclusive.

As a man who would NEVER commit rape, nor any type of sexual assault, I'm going to perfectly honest -- I do fear false accusations of rape because these are in the news, and I can't think of anything worse happening to me. The stakes for innocent men, like me, if a woman falsely accused me of rape are enormous -- many men I've spoken to would prefer to be raped themsevles than spend 40 years in prison and be branded as a sex offender until they die, if given that horrible choice. Men who really commit this crime need to be put away for a long time; women who lie about this crime need to be put away for an equally long time.

And as a society, we need to recognize that some women do lie about rape. Numbers are a moving target, but read "Until Proven Innocent" the acclaimed book about the Duke Lacrosse case -- it details the numbers and they are scary. It's should not be an epiphany that people lie about being raped, nor should it be in any manner controversial: Regardless of gender, people sometimes lie about everything imaginable, for all sorts of reasons -- EXCEPT, according to certain radical groups, when it comes to the lone subject of rape. In that singular instance, mirabile dictu, one gender supposedly is incapable of telling a lie, and the other is supposedly composed of pathological liars. This is exactly what happened in the Duke lacrosse non-rape case. And for those people who still maintain, in the face of the irrefutable vidence to the contrary, that "something" did occur there -- even the now disbarred D.A. admitted that there was NO credible evidence for the charges. (One of the boys was shown to be an an ATM machine when the "act" supposedly occurred.)

Let's all admit that these things happen so we're on the same page.

Answer 5

Are "most" people "usually" unsympathetic?

I haven't seen that. I haven't seen any studies supporting it. I have noticed that MANY people are SOMETIMES unsympathetic, and I agree that often this is simply victim blaming. (Sometimes women even do this, because it is feels safer to suppose that this only happens to women who "ask for it" - to those women, not to me.)

Suspicions about false accusations are one thing, but anyone who can't muster the compassion to say, "IF this happened, that's horrible," has a screw loose. I still think false accusations are vastly outnumbered by real cases, many of which go unreported.

Answer 6

Because most people believe that we could have avoided it. In fact, so many times rape is not reported because of the stigma attached and no matter what, being blamed for it. (why were you with him? why didn't you fight back? and so on)
And the "liars" often recant because it's so hard. If over and over someone told you that you were asking for it, if the attorneys made you out to be a diseased slut, or if they ask over and over, are you sure that's how it happened, you'd give up too.
I called the police on my rapist, he was someone I knew. After questioning everyone possible, after a humilating exam, after tearing apart every aspect of MY life, there STILL wasn't enough proof and the guy got off scot free. My life was destroyed and he gets to go as if nothing happened. And you don't want to know the number of people who still think I had it coming. To them, it's my fault.
People think that it could be avoided...that's why.

BTW: yeah this is the worst of all offenses, someone took control of my body and did whatever he wanted to it. What in your world is worse than that?
And it does not matter how I was dressed (in my flannel pajamas) what I said (sorry your fiance dumped you) or that I let him in! No one has the right to anyone's body without their consent! Even If I was walking around STARK NAKED no one has the right to touch my body in any way without my consent. That's why it's called rape.

Answer 7

I think rape victims DO get sympathy, but the feminists have turned rape into the "worst of all" offense & have built up the crime to a degree that places it above even murder.

It's hard to get sympathy proportional to how a person thinks they were harmed... especially when there has been so much "stirring of the pot" with regards to rape.

I'm not saying rape is a "walk in the park" or anything... I know it's a horrible crime ...but when something has been loaded with fuel... & someone lights a match... lookout.

Answer 8

Because they lack the ability to have empathy and/or in the case of men they don't feel the issue affects them so they don't see a need to have concern for women.

you know it's like this:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Answer 9

Wow, a couple of these answers really surprised me....
There's NO amount of flirting that should give anyone a license to rape. Everyone flirts. Guys flirt. What should we do to you when you flirt?
And from a female, that feminists exaggerate to make it sound worse? How much worse can rape be?
Geez, you people amaze me.

Answer 10

Its unfortunate, but i think it is because there have been cases where the women were lying. It makes it hard to believe for some people with out the facts to back it up.