I think part of the problem is that there are limits to victim safety … this is a bit like in the gun culture in America, people just assume that having a gun will protect you against violence - but the opposite is found to be true in the actual evidence, people with guns are more likely to be killed in a violent altercation. (It is getting to the point where guns are increasingly seen as the solution to political instability, as well - as the political situation deteriorates, the idea that getting a gun will help you when “shit hits the fan” is very common - American culture is obsessively individualist, and social or structural elements are reduced down to an individualist lens - it’s about recycling, littering, and individual contributions to greenhouse gases and not about the fact that a small handful of companies are responsible for 80% of the emissions and nothing individuals do will solve the problem even if we all were virtuous eco-warriors; people really think they can do everything themselves and having a gun will elevate their autonomy in moments of disaster.)
By promoting a culture of focusing the burden of preventing the crimes on the victims, the dominant narrative becomes “how could the victim have done more to prevent the crime”, and the blame shifts to the victim.
There has been reporting on a woman who was a martial arts instructors and who taught self-defense classes for women, and when she herself was in a situation she found she was unable to fight off assailants and experienced freeze responses that shut down her ability to think and act … so I do question what actual good these self-defense classes marketed to women provide …
I’m not arguing there is no benefit to victim safety training, but I am arguing that the existence and emphasis of victim safety training comes from misconceptions about how sexual assault happens. If you have been drugged, martial arts and hyper-vigilance will not save you. If the relationship is someone very close to you (~70% of sexual assault is by someone you know), the context the sexual assault happens in can be ambiguous, which makes it very hard for victims to recognize what is happening and respond appropriately, let alone respond with violence strong and effective enough that it stops the assault. Furthermore, sexual assault often happens to children (e.g. 1 in 5 girls experience sexual abuse), and certainly we don’t expect children to prevent their own sexual abuse, let alone by learning to fight off the men who prey on them or to become hyper-vigilant … (The idea of “stranger danger” being contrary to the actual evidence, most sexual abuse is happening at home - often from step-fathers or close relatives.)
There are definitely ways to help people identify, anticipate, and set boundaries against sexual predators - education to help victims recognize what is happening might help them better react in the moment, for example … and I’m not even saying we shouldn’t go to self-defense classes, learn safety tips, etc. (I have a history of PTSD, I know first-hand how this psychology feels, and how important it is to feel like you are doing something for your autonomy and safety. I personally experience victim safety as primarily about feeling safe and empowered.)
For me the take-away is that the culture does blame the victims, and that is why we see so much of the responsibility fall on the victim to train and prepare for potential assault.
It’s not a question of whether we should have self defense classes, it’s a question of the culture and why it is this way. Even if we decided to nationally ban self defense classes as predatory and victim blaming, it wouldn’t change the culture; the problem is that the culture blames the victims and doesn’t hold the assailants accountable (“oh boys will be boys”, “they were drunk!”, “it was just a misunderstanding”, “she liked it in the moment, she changed her mind!”, etc.).
Women are viewed as inherently dishonest, untrustworthy, as manipulative and as seducers who thereby have instigated the assault, the man merely being guilty of slipping and accidentally giving into “natural” impulses ultimately triggered by the woman. So the victim-blaming is all tied up in how we view women, men, and sex - men are always seeking sex, women always “have” the sex that the men are seeking, etc.
I don’t really have any answers on how to fix the culture, but that’s where the problem is (the self defense classes and victim blaming are just symptoms of the dysfunction). Ironically I think feminism as a movement towards gender egalitarianism is the way forward - a culture that recognizes sex is not inherent to women, that men can have sexual appeal and be pursued, that women can be pursuers, and where consent is expected - these might shift the way we view men, women, and sex - and might have an impact on victim blaming. However, I doubt this will change sexual assault, and how to stop the minority of men responsible for sexually assaulting boys, girls, and women is, in my mind, its own (connected) project.
Women are viewed as inherently dishonest, untrustworthy, as manipulative and as seducers who thereby have instigated the assault, the man merely being guilty of slipping and accidentally giving into “natural” impulses ultimately triggered by the woman. So the victim-blaming is all tied up in how we view women, men, and sex - men are always seeking sex, women always “have” the sex that the men are seeking, etc.>
Yep and that’s a big part of the issue. In media women are presented really badly, and no surprise, many scripts, directors, producers etc are men. That’s just one way the narrative is spread and it effects how we see certain crimes.
I think part of the problem is that there are limits to victim safety … this is a bit like in the gun culture in America, people just assume that having a gun will protect you against violence - but the opposite is found to be true in the actual evidence, people with guns are more likely to be killed in a violent altercation. (It is getting to the point where guns are increasingly seen as the solution to political instability, as well - as the political situation deteriorates, the idea that getting a gun will help you when “shit hits the fan” is very common - American culture is obsessively individualist, and social or structural elements are reduced down to an individualist lens - it’s about recycling, littering, and individual contributions to greenhouse gases and not about the fact that a small handful of companies are responsible for 80% of the emissions and nothing individuals do will solve the problem even if we all were virtuous eco-warriors; people really think they can do everything themselves and having a gun will elevate their autonomy in moments of disaster.)
By promoting a culture of focusing the burden of preventing the crimes on the victims, the dominant narrative becomes “how could the victim have done more to prevent the crime”, and the blame shifts to the victim.
There has been reporting on a woman who was a martial arts instructors and who taught self-defense classes for women, and when she herself was in a situation she found she was unable to fight off assailants and experienced freeze responses that shut down her ability to think and act … so I do question what actual good these self-defense classes marketed to women provide …
I’m not arguing there is no benefit to victim safety training, but I am arguing that the existence and emphasis of victim safety training comes from misconceptions about how sexual assault happens. If you have been drugged, martial arts and hyper-vigilance will not save you. If the relationship is someone very close to you (~70% of sexual assault is by someone you know), the context the sexual assault happens in can be ambiguous, which makes it very hard for victims to recognize what is happening and respond appropriately, let alone respond with violence strong and effective enough that it stops the assault. Furthermore, sexual assault often happens to children (e.g. 1 in 5 girls experience sexual abuse), and certainly we don’t expect children to prevent their own sexual abuse, let alone by learning to fight off the men who prey on them or to become hyper-vigilant … (The idea of “stranger danger” being contrary to the actual evidence, most sexual abuse is happening at home - often from step-fathers or close relatives.)
There are definitely ways to help people identify, anticipate, and set boundaries against sexual predators - education to help victims recognize what is happening might help them better react in the moment, for example … and I’m not even saying we shouldn’t go to self-defense classes, learn safety tips, etc. (I have a history of PTSD, I know first-hand how this psychology feels, and how important it is to feel like you are doing something for your autonomy and safety. I personally experience victim safety as primarily about feeling safe and empowered.)
For me the take-away is that the culture does blame the victims, and that is why we see so much of the responsibility fall on the victim to train and prepare for potential assault.
It’s not a question of whether we should have self defense classes, it’s a question of the culture and why it is this way. Even if we decided to nationally ban self defense classes as predatory and victim blaming, it wouldn’t change the culture; the problem is that the culture blames the victims and doesn’t hold the assailants accountable (“oh boys will be boys”, “they were drunk!”, “it was just a misunderstanding”, “she liked it in the moment, she changed her mind!”, etc.).
Women are viewed as inherently dishonest, untrustworthy, as manipulative and as seducers who thereby have instigated the assault, the man merely being guilty of slipping and accidentally giving into “natural” impulses ultimately triggered by the woman. So the victim-blaming is all tied up in how we view women, men, and sex - men are always seeking sex, women always “have” the sex that the men are seeking, etc.
I don’t really have any answers on how to fix the culture, but that’s where the problem is (the self defense classes and victim blaming are just symptoms of the dysfunction). Ironically I think feminism as a movement towards gender egalitarianism is the way forward - a culture that recognizes sex is not inherent to women, that men can have sexual appeal and be pursued, that women can be pursuers, and where consent is expected - these might shift the way we view men, women, and sex - and might have an impact on victim blaming. However, I doubt this will change sexual assault, and how to stop the minority of men responsible for sexually assaulting boys, girls, and women is, in my mind, its own (connected) project.
Yep and that’s a big part of the issue. In media women are presented really badly, and no surprise, many scripts, directors, producers etc are men. That’s just one way the narrative is spread and it effects how we see certain crimes.