Victim Blaming

Victim blaming is a common tactic employed by abusers to invalidate the victim’s experience of emotional and psychological abuse and coercion. It is a form of internalisation and can occur in both men and women. It involves attributing someone’s success to external factors and their failures to internal ones. It can lead to feelings of shame, regret, guilt, disbelief, outrage and anger. Victim blaming can also contribute to the stigma against people living with mental health issues, substance use, poverty and sexual/physical assault, as well as the discrimination of marginalised groups such as LGBTQ+, children and adults with learning and/or support needs, Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic peoples.

When someone discloses that they have experienced a betrayal trauma, it can be difficult to know what to say without sounding insensitive or blaming. It’s important to pay attention to your body language and facial expressions during a conversation with a survivor and be fully present. Avoid asking questions that could be perceived as insensitive or blaming, don’t give advice unless they ask for it and keep your comments to a minimum. It’s also important not to get angry or use violent rhetoric when talking about a betrayal trauma.

Survivors need our support. They have already been victimised and their confidence has been shattered. They don’t need the added insult of being blamed by those who have no vested interest in their story. Victim blaming can prevent victims from reporting crimes or seeking services that will help their recovery.

As a society, we need to be more aware of the prevalence of victim blaming and how it impacts survivors. We need to change the way we talk about and treat survivors, especially those who have been raped or assaulted. We need to change how we think about victimisation, ensuring that it is seen as an issue of human rights and not an individual’s choice or lifestyle.

A recent study conducted by Liane Young and Laura Niemi found that the degree to which people exhibit victim blaming behaviour is influenced by their moral values. They identified that individuals who display stronger individual values tend to be focused on fairness and preventing harm to oneself, whereas those who possess binding values prefer protecting the interests of groups as a whole and are more likely to see victims as blameworthy.

In a GLMM model, they explored how gender, belief in a just world, victim stereotyping levels and acceptance of rape myths influenced the level of victim blaming on the part of their subjects. They found that males were significantly more likely to victim blame victims compared to female subjects. The extent to which a subject exhibited victim blaming was also influenced by their beliefs about what is right and wrong and their attitudes toward traditional role models.

Survivors of betrayal trauma need our empathy and our voice. Sadly, victim blaming is an epidemic and it must be tackled at every level of society, including the government and within organisations that provide victim support.