On Blaming the Victim

Top o' the Stack.

Comments

[Simon Neale]

"What the attractive young woman does when she 'struts her stuff' in dangerous precincts is both imprudent and immoral. I don't need to explain why it is imprudent. It is immoral because she is tempting others to commit immoral acts."

I agree with the main point here, but my sense is that she is usually more imprudent than immoral. She is tempting the men to commit the lesser immorality of looking, admiring, and desiring her. She often doesn't have the intention to provoke an assault or even an advance, and would usually be happy with the minor thrill of being leered at because it gratifies here vanity. She is like a skater on a frozen pond who wants to enjoy the skill of elegant gliding, but is unaware of how readily the ice cracks and how unforgivingly cold the water is. Her immorality usually consists of embarking on a course of action without knowing the likely consequences, which deserves less censure than the professional lady who goes all out to inspire lust.

[BV]

Thanks for the comment, Simon.

>>but my sense is that she is usually more imprudent than immoral.<< I agree.

I also agree that she does not intend to provoke an assault. She is not tempting men to assault her. But she is doing something that she ought to know has a fairly high probability of bringing on an attack which will not only be bad for her, but also for other women who will be more likely to be attacked, and also bad for the perpetrator who will be encouraged to continue with is bad behavior.

The skater example strikes me as disanalogous since the ice is not a moral agent.

As for the streetwalker, she is involved in solicitation unlike the young woman in my example. Her immorality outweighs her imprudence whereas the young woman's imprudence outweighs her immorality.