Two months ago Jonathan Martin, a football
player on the Miami Dolphins, left the team due to mistreatment from teammates,
which included receiving threatening phone messages from another
player. The incident raised concerns about hazing within the NFL, but it also
prompted some to suggest that Martin himself bears at least partial
responsibility for his fate. For example, another NFL player stated in an interview that Martin is
"just as much to blame because he allowed it to happen" and should have
behaved like a man. Others argued that Martin was oversensitive and made himself an easy
target.
This sort of victim blaming is not unique to
bullying cases. It can be seen when rape victims' sexual histories are
dissected, when people living in poverty are viewed as lazy and unmotivated,
when those suffering from mental or physical illness are presumed to have
invited disease through their own bad choices. There are cases where victims
may indeed hold some responsibility for their misfortunate, but all too often
this responsibility is overblown and other factors are discounted. Why are we
so eager to blame victims, even when we have seemingly nothing to gain?
Victim blaming is not just about avoiding
culpability—it's also about avoiding vulnerability. The more innocent a victim,
the more threatening they are. Victims threaten our sense that the world is a
safe and moral place, where good things happen to good people and bad
things happen to bad people. When bad things happen to good people, it implies
that no one is safe, that no matter how good we are, we too could be
vulnerable. The idea that misfortune can be random, striking anyone at any
time, is a terrifying thought, and yet we are faced every day with evidence
that it may be true.
In the 1960s, social psychologist Dr. Melvin Lerner conducted a famous serious
of studies in which he found that when participants observed another person
receiving electric shocks and were unable to intervene, they began to derogate
the victims. The more unfair and severe the suffering appeared to be, the
greater the derogation. Follow up studies found that a similar phenomenon
occurs when people evaluate victims of car accidents, rape, domestic violence,
illness, and poverty. Research conducted by Dr. Ronnie Janoff-Bulman suggests
that victims sometimes even derogate themselves, locating the cause of
their suffering in their own behavior, but not in their enduring
characteristics, in an effort to make negative events seem more controllable
and therefore more avoidable in the future.
Lerner theorized that these victim blaming
tendencies are rooted in the belief in a just world, a world where actions have
predictable consequences and people can control what happens to them. It
is captured in common phrases like "what goes around comes around"
and "you reap what you sow." We want to believe that justice will
come to wrongdoers, whereas good, honest people who follow the rules will be
rewarded. Research has found, not surprisingly, that people who believe that
the world is a just place are happier and less depressed. But this happiness may come at
a cost—it may reduce our empathy for those who are suffering, and we may even
contribute to their suffering by increasing stigmatization.
So is the only alternative to belief in a just world
a sense of helplessness and depression? Not at all. People can believe that the
world is full of injustice but also believe that they are capable of making the
world a more just place through their own actions. One way to help make the
world a better place to fight the impulse to rationalize others' suffering, and
to recognize that it could have just as soon been us in their shoes. This
recognition can be unsettling, but it may also be the only way that we can
truly open our hearts to others' suffering and help them feel supported and
less alone. What the world may lack in justice we can at least try to make up
for in compassion.
Lerner, M. (1980). The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion.
While I agree that bad things can happen to anybody, I also agree that victims sometimes bring problems upon themselves. It's a complicated issue. I know a girl who claims she was "raped" just because she was too shy and scared to say no. So is this rape? Debatable.
ReplyDeleteWhy did the girl feel too scared to say no? If she felt threatened, then I do believe this could be considered rape. See common misconceptions about sexual assault at this website: http://www.uww.edu/sasa/misconceptions.htm
DeleteEven if what happened to her did not meet the legal definition of rape, I think the more important question is not whether she is to blame but why she didn't feel that she could say no. That is very troubling. I hope she has received the support she needs.