ATS2469 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Victim Blaming, Andrea Gibson, Rape Culture
19 Jun 2018
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Bringing and End to a Culture of Victim Blaming
What were you thinking wearing that?” “What did you expect would happen?” “You should
have been more careful.” Such questions highlight a disturbing trend of rape culture, which
thrive amidst our societies. Rape culture can be defined as a complex set of beliefs that
encourage male sexual aggression and support violence against women (Buchwald 1994).
Such cultural belief systems condone the physical and emotional terrorism committed against
women as normal and ultimately inevitable. Rather than viewing this as a problem that must
be changed, followers of rape culture deem the persistence of rape as “the way things are”.
From young ages, Australians are exposed to unhealthy stereotypes, which condemn women
as submissive and weak whereas men are predominantly viewed as sexual beings. As a result
of this 13% of young Australians believe women under the influence of alcohol or drugs are
at least partly responsible for their own sexual assault (The Line). However, these regimes
that methodically blame victims for the atrocities they have had to endure can no longer be
ignored.
In 2007, 23 year-old Nina Funnell was indecently sexually assaulted while walking home
from University in Sydney’s lower north shore. Fuller had gone out for ‘drinks’ after her
class and was seized by a solidly built man who held a blade to her throat, dragged her into a
park and proceeded to sexually assault her. Like many victims of sexual assault, Funnell was
‘immobilized by fear’ but managed to escape the perpetrator and immediately filed a police
report regarding the violence she had just endured. Despite her efforts to get away and the
police report she lodged, many individuals criticized her behavior and choices, blaming
Fuller for her own sexual assault. Individuals remarked that she was ‘stupid’ for walking
home alone and believed she was to blame as she was under the influence of alcohol.These
views reflect rape-risk prevention tactics, which put the responsibility on women to protect
themselves from victimization by avoiding ‘risky’ situations. This is particularly problematic
as these ‘tactics’ do NOT prevent rape and continue to control women’s access to public
spaces in ways that do not constrain men. Slam poet Andrea Gibson comments on these rape
prevention tactics in her piece entitled “Blue Blanket” which explores themes of sexual
assault. Gibson writes
“She’s not asking what you’re going to tell your daughter, she’s asking what you’re going to
teach your son”
