Victim Blaming and Victim Defending Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Victim Blaming and Victim Defending - Essay Example In most cases, people who are exceptionally familiar with victimology do not view the victim as the one responsible for the misdemeanor. However, knowledge about the prior rapport between the fatality and perpetrator maximizes the perceptions of victim blame for cases such as wife battery. In addition, most of the psychologists argue that the victim is not necessarily fallacious. Roy Baumeister; a personality and social psychologist, argues that showing the victim’s responsibility can be shrewd, contrary to typical clarification of meanness and aggression (Said & Hitchens, 2001). Furthermore, in these two concepts there are factors such as secondary victimization, just-world hypothesis, rape shield laws, sexual purity and family honor which are of crucial importance (Ryan, 1976). These terminologies are quite common in association to victim blaming and victim defending. In relation to this case, secondary victimization can be identified as the retraumatization of the abuse victim through the response of the community in general. For example in the case of battered women, the women might be blamed. For instance, they might be accused of not acting as to the stipulated guidelines set by the husband or even cheating on the husband. These are some of the most common acts that may trigger the husband to beat his wife. Hence, this phenomenon is identified as secondary victimization. Rape shield laws have also become common according to most jurisdictions. These laws are liable for protecting the alleged victim with respect to certain phenomena. Another common factor related to the issue of victim blaming and defending is sexual purity and family honor. This prevalent factor involves social relationships in which women are mostly blamed for their indiscriminate acts. Lastly, there is the just-world hypothesis issue which is also prevalent in issues related to victim blaming and defending. This aspect describes the phenomenon that people believe