Science Has Found The Reason Behind The Practice Of Victim-blaming

Sunday, September 18 2016, 08:26:19

Himanshu Roy

JWB Blogger

Science Has Found The Reason Behind The Practice Of Victim-blaming

JWB Post

July 13, 2016

Ever wondered that from where the victim-blaming practice has evolved? Every time, be it sexual assault or shooting of innocent protesters, we get to hear some statements made by people who invariably blame the victim, no matter what.

And now, science has found a reason as to why they do so. In a study conducted by Laura Niemi, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Harvard University it has been discovered that the habit of victim blaming depends on one of the two sets of moral values that people possess.

It has been found that individuals who are caring and whose objective is to reduce the harm done to other people are more likely to blame the perpetrators rather than the victims. But at the same time, individuals who use words such as loyalty, purity, and obedience will blame the victims as instead of seeing the fault in the actions of the perpetrators.

Given the fact that we heard people coming out in support of the Stanford University swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and in support of the police in the aftermath of the shooting of Alton Sterling, it shows that how this practice of victim blaming is deeply entrenched inside the society.

For those who said that it was not the swimmer but the woman was responsible for the assault because she was drunk, it appears that this particular set of moral values are more important than a rational one.

In the study, it has been found that people who give more emphasis on ‘binding values’ are likely to be the ones raising the voice against victims.

It’s true that science sees things objectively but in spite of their natural instincts, it’s about time that such people understand the plight of the victim. What if one day they are in her shoes and are blamed unjustly? A little rationality can sometimes be more useful than a thousand old school values put together.