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Victim blaming
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==Global situation== Many different cultures across the globe have formulated different degrees of victim blaming for different scenarios such as rape, hate crimes, and domestic abuse. Victim blaming is common around the world, especially in cultures where it is socially acceptable and advised to treat certain groups of people as lesser. For example, in Somalia victims of sexual abuse consistently endure social [[Ostracism|ostracization]] and harassment.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} One specific example is the kidnapping and rape of 14-year old Fatima: when the police arrived, both Fatima and her rapist were arrested. While they did not detain the offender for long, the officers held Fatima captive for a month and a prison guard continually raped her during that time.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Rape victims are still being blamed for sexual violence in Somalia|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rape-victims-still-blamed-for-sexual-violence-in-somalia-10229605.html|website = The Independent|access-date = 2015-12-09|date = 6 May 2015}}</ref> In February 2016, the organisations [[International Alert]] and [[UNICEF]] published a study revealing that girls and women released from captivity by [[Nigeria]]'s insurgency group [[Boko Haram]] often face rejection by their communities and families. Their children born of sexual violence faced even more discrimination.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/16/women-freed-boko-haram-rejected-for-bringing-bad-blood-back-home-nigeria |title=Women freed from Boko Haram rejected for bringing 'bad blood' back home |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Liz |last=Ford |date=16 February 2016|access-date=15 July 2016}}</ref> Acid attacks on South Asian women, when people throw acid on women in an attempt to punish them for their perceived wrongdoings, are another example of victim-blaming. For instance, in New Delhi in 2005, a group of men threw acid on a 16-year-old girl because they believed she provoked the advances of a man.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.asfi.in/webpage.php?title=The+challengers&p_type=1&parent=96&catid=97|title = Laxmi's Story|access-date = 26 September 2016|website = Acid Survivors Foundation India|last = Laxmi|archive-date = 20 June 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180620213041/http://www.asfi.in/webpage.php?title=The+challengers&p_type=1&parent=96&catid=97|url-status = dead}}</ref> In Chinese culture, victim blaming is often associated with the crime of rape, as women are expected to resist rape using physical force. Thus, if rape occurs, it is considered to be at least partly the woman's fault and her virtue is inevitably called into question.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xue |first1=Jia |last2=Fang |first2=Gang |last3=Huang |first3=Hui |last4=Cui |first4=Naixue |last5=Rhodes |first5=Karin V. |last6=Gelles |first6=Richard |title=Rape Myths and the Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale in China |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |date=April 2019 |volume=34 |issue=7 |pages=1428β1460 |doi=10.1177/0886260516651315 |pmid=27271981 |s2cid=28391226 }}</ref> Religious norms can be part of victim blaming.<ref name="a604">{{cite journal | last1=Bergenfeld | first1=Irina | last2=Clark | first2=Cari Jo | last3=Sandhu | first3=Seema | last4=Yount | first4=Kathryn M. | last5=Essaid | first5=Aida A. | last6=Sajdi | first6=Jude | last7=Abu Taleb | first7=Rand | last8=Robbin | first8=Zoe | last9=Batayeh | first9=Brian | last10=Zwooqar | first10=Ahad | last11=Spencer | first11=Rachael A. | title="There Is Always an Excuse to Blame the Girl": Perspectives on Sexual Harassment at a Jordanian University | journal=Violence Against Women | volume=28 | issue=14 | date=2022 | issn=1077-8012 | doi=10.1177/10778012221079373 | pages=3457β3481| pmid=35200046 }}</ref> <!--this bit is non-sequitur and makes more sense in the previous section--> In Western culture victim blaming has been largely recognized as a problematic way to view a situation, however this does not exempt Westerners from being guilty of the action. A recent example of Western victim blaming would be a civil trial held in 2013 where the Los Angeles School District blamed a 14-year-old girl for the sexual abuse she endured from her middle school teacher. The District's lawyer argued that the minor was responsible for the prevention of the abuse, putting the entire fault on the victim and exempting the perpetrator of any responsibility. Despite his efforts to convince the court that the victim must be blamed, the ruling stated that no minor student that has been sexually assaulted by his or her teacher is responsible for the prevention of that sexual assault.<ref>{{Cite web|title = JUDGE: School district 'wrong' to blame student for having sex with teacher EAGnews.org|url = http://eagnews.org/judge-school-district-wrong-to-blame-student-for-sex-with-teacher/|website = eagnews.org |access-date=26 September 2016|date = 17 September 2015}}</ref>
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