See the Triumph
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • See the Triumph Collections
  • Participate in Our Research
  • Volunteer with See the Triumph
  • The Origins of See the Triumph
  • About our Research
  • Terms of Use
  • Resources for more Information
  • See the Triumph Workbooks
  • See the Triumph Healing Arts Workshops
  • See the Triumph Survivor Advocacy Training Program
  • Contact Us

Victim Blaming and Stigma

11/25/2013

 
Picture
By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder

Recently, we launched our Causes pledge to tell survivors of intimate partner violence: “It’s not your fault.” We still invite you to take the pledge and add your name to the hundreds of others who have already done so. The more people who take the pledge, the stronger the message will be that victims are never to blame for the abuse they experience.

In our research, victim blaming has consistently come up as one aspect of the broader stigma surrounding intimate partner violence. It seems that many survivors have been made to feel that they are somehow responsible for their abuse, whether that blame comes from their perpetrators, people in their personal networks, and even the professionals they reach out to.

A 2011 research study published in the journal Feminist Criminology showed that the media often perpetuates victim-blaming attitudes, too.(1) In this study, the researchers reviewed newspaper stories on murders of females by their intimate partners over a six-year time-frame in North Carolina. In 11% of the stories reviewed, the stories used direct victim-blaming language by reporting on steps the women failed to take to protect themselves (e.g., leaving or seeking legal protections). In addition, 14% of the stories reviewed used more indirect ways of blaming victims, such as by referring to their drug or alcohol use and/or mental health issues.

It seems the blaming of victims often comes from all directions.

So why does victim-blaming matter? In a recent article on the Refinery29 web-site, author Jessica Goldstein said, “As long as we live in a culture that blames victims for ‘not leaving’ instead of holding perpetrators of violence accountable for committing such atrocities in the first place, a critical mass of victims won’t feel safe and supported enough to come forward with their stories.”

Think about it. If you felt that you were responsible for some bad outcome happening to you, wouldn’t you feel embarrassed and less likely to reach out for help? Would you perhaps feel that you should be ashamed and don’t deserve to be helped because you somehow brought the situation on yourself? The weight of the blame and stigma would likely have a profound impact on how deserving you felt of support from others.

The stigma surrounding intimate partner violence is very real, and we invite you to join us in working together to end it. Taking the pledge to tell survivors, “It’s not your fault,” is one step, and we’ll always welcome more of your ideas on other steps that we can take to end the damaging stigma that prevents survivors from getting the support they need.


Resource:
(1) Richards, T. N., Gillespie, L. K., & Smith, M. D. (2011). Exploring news coverage of femicide: Does reporting the news add insult to injury. Feminist Criminology, 6, 178-202.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    About Intimate Partner Violence
    About Intimate Partner Violence
    Advocacy
    Ambassadors
    Children
    Churches
    College Campuses
    Cultural Issues
    Domestic Violence Awareness Month
    Financial Recovery
    How To Help A Friend
    Human Rights
    Human-rights
    Immigrants
    International
    Media
    Overcoming Past Abuse
    Overcoming-past-abuse
    Parenting
    Prevention
    Resources For Survivors
    Safe Relationships Following Abuse
    Schools
    Selfcare
    Self-care
    Sexual Assault
    Sexuality
    Social Justice
    Social-justice
    Stigma
    Supporting Survivors
    Survivor Quotes
    Survivor-quotes
    Survivor Stories
    Teen Dating Violence
    Trafficking
    Transformative-approaches

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • See the Triumph Collections
  • Participate in Our Research
  • Volunteer with See the Triumph
  • The Origins of See the Triumph
  • About our Research
  • Terms of Use
  • Resources for more Information
  • See the Triumph Workbooks
  • See the Triumph Healing Arts Workshops
  • See the Triumph Survivor Advocacy Training Program
  • Contact Us