General Discussion

Not quite as blatantly - but as a rape survivor, and someone who spent a decades as as peer advocate in a rape crisis center, even subtle, unconscious, victim blaming jumps out at me.

Someone expressed the hope that as rape survivor left the rapist bloodied or worse. I know the conscious intent was an expression of anger at the rapist - but the only way for the rapist to be bloodied or worse is for the survivor to have fought back, so the statement also suggests the survivor should have fought back.

The blame the victim dynamic is so ingrained that it comes out in a lot of both blatant and very subtle ways. And, in my experience, it is as common, or more, in women. If we view the survivor as somehow different - or asking for it - subconsciously it makes us feel as if it won't happen to us because we would never do what that woman did.