This is about my history class again but c’mon people! Criminal Minds?!

So, this one girl wrote (under the ever-so-eloquent title:  “What do women do to get themselves murdered?” Your Thoughts?)

It didn’t surprise me when it was mentioned that the Manchester newspaper continually placed the victim’s behaviour against the violence she experienced when reported on a sexual violence crime. Even today I feel as if many people believe that it is the females fault when it comes to being the victim of a sexual violence crime. There has been assumptions made that women get raped or assaulted because they flaunt their femininity by wearing revealing clothes and that they are asking to be raped or assaulted. They even have events today like the Slut Walk held in Toronto in hopes of breaking free from the assumptions that are made about female rape or assault victims. Also, if it is not factors like wearing revealing clothes then the newspaper articles will describe women engaging in other behaviour like walking alone somewhere. I think as long as females fall victim to crimes like rape and assault, in some ways their behaviour will always be considered a reason as to why the crime occurred. Also by not really focusing on the actions of the attacker, it makes the attack more and more about the woman. I am curious to see if anyone else still believes that this notion is true or not.

So, then I wrote:

It’s true in the sense that, as I’ve stated elsewhere, in the west we currently live in a society of rape culture which facilitates victim blaming and shaming. I’d like to take what you said a step further and say that, so long as gender binaries and dichotomies exist, women will be blamed for rape.
The expectations placed on women and men by society, both in Victorian Britain and the present, have made it so that women are the keepers of sex and men are those who are trying to get it. By women ‘giving away’ sex, they are doing something wrong and deviating from their gender norm and thus doing something wrong. Victim shaming/blaming, ‘slut’ shaming, and expecting women to be more chaste than men are all factors that have contributed (and still contribute) to women’s unequal status in society.

So, then some other girl wrote:

As much as these issues do exist, I think they have diminished in some sense. Looking at the modern fascination with psychology, shows like Criminal Minds fascinate the public with mental profiles of those committing violent assaults in a way that captures the attention of so many people. I think that as much as some women are still blamed we are also fascinated by the psychology of the attacker, which is a start towards continuing to shift the blame away from the victim.


I can’t even…