Victim blaming is still rife, it’s just taken a more socially acceptable form People have learned to respond to sexual violence against women in a way that’s considered more socially acceptable

This article discusses sexual violence and may be distressing for some readers

A survey of 4000 adults in the UK last week revealed what we already knew: that the general public has quite the tendency to blame women for sexual violence.

Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of the respondents to the survey, conducted by YouGov for the charity End Violence Against Women, said they believed sex without consent was “not really rape” if they were in a long-term relationship. Meanwhile a third of men and 23 per cent of women believed that once sex had begun, women could not withdraw their consent and stop.

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A smaller but still significant number – 11 per cent – believed that if a woman had many previous sexual partners, being raped would harm her less than any other woman and 50 per cent believed that women with no sexual history would be harmed the most by a rape.

Subtle but still there

My own findings from my recent PhD in the psychology of victim blaming of women subjected to sexual violence support what is found in this survey. What the research shows is that victim blaming in society is not reducing, it is just evolving.

Surveys I have undertaken show people are much less likely nowadays to endorse overt statements such as “she is a slut, she asked for it,” but they are still highly likely to endorse statements such as, “she could have done something differently to protect herself better.”

These more subtle forms of victim blaming contribute to women blaming themselves for sexual violence

This means that people have learned to respond to sexual violence against women in a way that’s considered more socially acceptable; calling a woman a “slut” is unacceptable, but telling a woman to do something different to protect herself from rape, or to stop sleeping around in order to “reduce her risk” is seen as palatable, acceptable safety advice.

These more subtle forms of victim blaming contribute to women blaming themselves for sexual violence, as they believe they should have done something differently.

Harmful myths

Many people will chalk the YouGov results up to myths about rape that often mean the public still struggle to believe it really happened unless several elements are at play that make a perfect victim.

A so-called “classic rape” case, one that involves all these elements, would mean a woman who is sober, innocent, not sexually active, not “taking risks” (such as going out at night) and who is attacked by a man she has never met, in the dark, in an unfamiliar place, who threatens her with weapons and physically injures her. If that wasn’t enough, such a rape would also include the assumption that the woman fought him off and reported it immediately to the police, where she presents irrefutable evidence.

Survivors of sexual violence, and those who have worked with them, will know that the vast majority of sexual assaults and rapes will never achieve this unattainable stereotype.

While living in a society that reinforces these harmful myths and stereotypes is certainly contributing to the victim-blaming of women, there are broader reasons too. Those that I have studied include: our beliefs about justice in the world, our theories about why bad things happen to good people (or bad people), how we attribute blame to different groups of people and how our religions and cultures influence our views about sex and women.

One of the most pernicious explanations I’ve come across is straight-up sexism. For example, the fact that quite a big chunk of the general public believe that women who have had sex before would experience less harm from being raped is a red flag.

It’s sort of like saying that serious car crashes aren’t as bad for those who drive to work

This suggests that people still see rape as something to do with sexual promiscuity or sexual purity of the woman, that rape is not as bad for those who’ve had lots of sex. Sort of like saying that serious car crashes aren’t as bad for people who drive on their commute to work every day.

Not all about education

The problematic belief that women cannot withdraw their consent once they begin having sex is not an issue of education, either. It does not mean that the person holding that belief just needs a quick session on consent – it means they feel entitled to sex, even when the woman is telling them that they don’t want it anymore. It means they are putting their pleasure and their needs before the rights of the other person. They don’t lack education – they lack respect for women and empathy.

Education in schools and universities about sexual violence and consent has increased exponentially, but victim blaming is still palatable and acceptable to say in an increasingly hostile world for women, a world in which rape and sexual violence is becoming trivialised and minimised.

The results from the YouGov survey are not due to lack of education. Victim blaming of women has long been intertwined into our beliefs, values, cultures, religions and our need for control, hierarchy and order.

Jessica Eaton is an author, speaker and researcher specialising in the psychology of sexual violence and victim blaming of women. She is the founder of campaign group, VictimFocus.org.uk.