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"Victim blaming"

Consider this advice:

Whenever you connect to the internet with a computer or other such device, you are taking a conscious risk. Your computer may be hacked, your information may be stolen. While technology has worked hard to erase all this risk, and while a lot of progress has been made we are not still there. The risk of being hacked is always there, and you should be aware of it. However, there are things you can do to minimize the risk. Use firewall software, keep your anti-virus and anti-malware software always updated, never send critical information (such as credit card information) over an unsecured connection, never send private personal information through email, skype or any other form of unsecured communication, do not answer to emails or other communication offering you deals that are too good to be true (such as somebody offering to transfer millions of dollars to your bank account, or any other "get rich quick" schemes.) If a strange email has an attachment, do not open it.

I think you would agree that's good basic advice that everybody should be aware of.

Now assume that after I have given that advice somebody said to me: "That's victim blaming! You are a horrible person, blaming the victim! Don't tell me to use secure connections, tell the hackers not to hack me!"

I think that you would probably be as flabbergasted as I would. Is that person completely insane and delusional? How exactly is giving this healthy advice "victim blaming"? What kind of mentally retarded person on Earth could think of giving this advice being a horrible thing to do?

Well, let me answer that question: Feminists.

Recently there was this scandal of cellphones of celebrities being hacked, and their nude photos stolen and spread on the internet. When technology experts gave the advice of "do not take nude photos of yourself with your phone and send them to your friends, because as any piece of technology connected to the internet, they can be hacked", the feminist crowd shouted "victim blaming!"

Feminists have gone completely insane.

This "victim blaming" craze started with this mentally retarded idea that if someone tries to find patterns in rape cases, and to find measures that can be taken to minimize the risk of being raped, that someone is "victim blaming". ("Don't tell me what to wear. Tell men not to rape.") These people who try to provide useful advice are regarded by some feminists as worse than the rapists themselves.

This angers me to no end. These feminists are assholes. They are scum. If there's anybody that's worse than a rapist, it's these mentally retarded feminists who disparage people who are only trying to help, people who are actually trying to prevent rapes from happening. It's not the people looking for patterns and coming up with preventive measures who are worsening the rape situation; it's the idiotic feminists who disparage them. These feminists are actively working against preventive measures. It almost feels like they don't want to prevent rapes from happening.

When these feminists are confronted with this, they will often defend themselves by saying that the advice is useless. Whether it's useless or not has no bearing on you accusing them of "victim blaming". This is so insane that it's infuriating. When having this conversation, they will always resort to the "the advice is useless", and sometimes even acknowledging that yes, the advice is given in good faith and with good intentions... yet they later keep on with the "victim blaming" crap. They have this kind of strange double-think, where they acknowledge the innocence and good faith of the advice, and at the same time still think that it's "victim blaming" done in bad faith. This double-think is often so deeply ingrained that it could be considered a mental illness.

On top of that, their alternative is rather unworkable. "Teach men not to rape"? Would that work with other crimes as well? "Teach thieves not to steal." "Teach hackers not to hack." "Teach people not to murder."

Sure, education goes a long way to lessen the prevalence of crime. However, it will unfortunately never get rid of it completely. Also, and most egregiously, relying on education in exclusion to the preventive measures is just pure insanity. But that's exactly what these feminists are proposing: Forget the preventive measures, rely solely on some idealistic education scheme.

Also, is the advice really as useless as the feminists claim it to be? I don't think it is. Just consider this advice:
  • If you are going out to a night club, party or other such place, never go alone. Criminals, rapists and date rapists prey on lonely women because they are the easiest targets.
  • Be always aware where your friends are. You are protecting them as much as they are protecting you.
  • A male companion offers more implicit protection than a female one. This may reek of implied sexism, but you have to be pragmatic. Sexual predators are much more unlikely to target a woman with a male companion; that's just a fact of life.
  • Do not go alone with a man you don't know anywhere. Most men may be completely ok and nice, but that one day when you go with the wrong man... Just don't do it unless you are completely certain of what you are doing.
  • Be aware of the implicit social messages you are sending. Yes, this includes how you dress. Forget about the feminist outrage, be pragmatic: How you dress sends an implicit message to other people in our society. You just have to be aware of it. If you are a lonely woman wearing a sexy dress at a night club, some men will interpret it as an implicit message that you are looking for fun. You can choose to either be outraged about it, or you can be pragmatic about it. Be aware of it.
  • Random rapes (as opposed to date rapes) happen more frequently in certain parts of the city than in others. Be aware of this.
Is this really such a bad useless advice? Is it really so useless to, for example, avoid going alone to a night club as opposed to going with a group of friends? Sure, it may suck that a woman can't safely go alone to such places, but being aware of this fact and giving the advice is not a bad thing. It's a preventive measure.

Why is "do not go alone to a night club" victim blaming when, for example, "do not send your credit card information over an unsecured line" is not? This whole "victim blaming" thing is just a huge pile of bullshit.

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