Komaba Times Issue 9

KOMABA WRITERS’ STUDIO
Sexism Towards Victimized Women
The Reality of Restrictions on Women in the Name of Protection
By: Jimin Park
Image credit: Free-Photos [Pixabay]
Sexual violence, such as rape, sexual assault,
and sexual abuse, refers to a sexual act committed
against someone without that person’s
freely-given consent (Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 2018). The offenders and victims
could be of any gender, but in many cases, men
are the offenders and women are the victims.
About 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced
sexual violence and about 120 million
girls worldwide have experienced forced sexual
acts (UN Women, 2017). However, patriarchal societies
restrict women to behave in certain ways
in order to prevent sexual violence, rather than
trying to eradicate the actual cause; the offenders.
For example, there are claims that women
should not wear short dresses and walk around
late at night because they might be targeted for
sex crimes.
This argument may seem plausible because it
seems as if it is trying to protect possible victims
of sexual violence; however, such a perspective
may lead to shaming on women when they are
victimized, as if they are the ones responsible for
the crime. This paper focuses on how perspectives
which claim that women should be more
careful and take responsibility for oneself are
actually oppressing rather than protecting them.
Firstly, the paper examines the conservative
view towards victimized women and how it still
has its influence until today. Secondly, the paper
analyses the factors of being the victim of sexual
violence and whether victims should really deal
with responsibility. Lastly, this essay states the
nature of sexual violence and victim-blaming and
the real prevention of them. Certain restrictions
on women in the name of preventing sexual violence
is a way to oppress women’s freedom and
rights because such restrictions are based on
the premise that victimized women are the cause
of the violence, not the offenders themselves.
Conservative views on victimized
women
In patriarchal societies, there have been discriminatory
perspectives towards women, as if they
were inferior to men. Especially, the society’s
view towards victimized women in sexual violence
was even crueler. For example, in the US,
during the British colonial era, the rape of a virgin
was considered a crime against her father, rather
than a crime against the victim herself. Also,
when a sex crime occurred, women had to be
dependent on the courts and community, which
consisted of men. Therefore a woman had to
comply with male standards for her behavior by
proving non-consent through verbal and physical
resistance. If she could not prove non-consent,
she was punished for assault. In the 19th century,
women were praised for their purity, therefore
a woman who got involved in sexual intercourse
even against her will was considered to be a
“fallen” woman and was blamed for the man’s
crime and socially criticized as a result of the
attack. In the 20th century, the psychological
approach to sexual crime started, but most theories
concluded that the offenders were mentally
ill, therefore reducing the offender’s responsibility
for his actions since he was considered uncontrollable.
In addition, society’s perception of the
victim also changed. Also, female nature became
sexualized, therefore female victims were viewed
as if they contributed to their own victimization
(Donat & D’Emilio, 1992). By examining the example
of the United States, it is clear that women’s
choices and decisions about their lives and
bodies were highly restricted, and their dignity
was ignored.
Even though gender equality is now considered
as justice and women’s rights have improved
compared to past centuries, sexism towards
women still exist which leads to victim-blaming,
especially when the victim is a woman. For
example, Judge Lindsey Kushner QC has been
criticized for commenting that women need to
protect themselves against the threat of being
involved in sexual assault while drunk. The campaign
group ‘End Violence Against Women’ condemned
that such comments blame the victims
for rape and remove responsibility from the male
offender (Rawlinson, 2017). The contributions of
social stereotypes and negativities on victimized
women lead to victim-blaming and to rape itself.
Addressing problems of victim-blaming would be
more effective than worrying about what women
wear or how they drink until the morning.
Is it really the victim’s fault?
Because of such negative perspectives, myths
on sexual violence exist, such as “most sexual
violence are committed by strangers,” and
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