rape/victim blaming by mackenzie

Rape / Victim Blaming

Author - Mackenzie Nutter

By Mackenzie Nutter, for Ms.Wallings Grade 12 English: 12/13/2018 Am

Last updated: December 14th, 2018 9:28am

In Edmonton, Alberta (2008) a woman was assaulted by a fair employee, the woman is suing two organizations for failing to ensure her safety. The organizations said the woman showed negligence by drinking to much in their statement of defense. After many sexual assaults the RCMP issued a statement that says women should wear a backpack to keep their hands free to avoid attack, this sends the message to women and young girls that it's a woman's responsibility to prevent assaults and that it must be their fault if it does happen.

Canadian police give safety tips to women that include only socializing with trusted friends and never leaving a drink unattended. The force followed up with a tweet showing a martini and the message “Don’t be a victim. “Lynn Moore a lawyer specializing in sexual abuse, said she found the image of the martini and its message particularly upsetting. “The message is that people have control over whether or not they’re victimized and I don’t think that people do.”  

Last year, 14 percent of sexual assaults reported to police were given the "unfounded" stamp(unfounded means not believed). Its double the seven per cent of unfounded cases identified among all criminal incidents in Canada last year. Sexual assaults are among the least likely crimes to be reported to police, but last year 28,551 assaults were reported, with the rise in women coming forward and sharing their stories it makes other woman feel more empowered and able to go to the police and report what happened. Lately in the last couple months there has been a lot of attention on sexual assault, especially with the #metoo movement.

“It is estimated that about one in three Canadian women will experience sexual assault in their adult life. In fact, statistics indicate that 39% of women report having experienced at least one incidence of sexual assault since the age of 16” Statistics Canada. (2013). Table 7 Police-reported crime for selected offences, by province and territory, 2012.

 I think that for a solution we could start with not blaming women when they come forward with their stories, it is never anyone's fault when something horrible happens to them men or women. Start believing people, the police need to start doing that, often times when someone comes forward with a story of sexual assault they get shut down by police. We have definitely gotten better over the past couple years with blaming people and giving support to people who need it but we still need to fight for one and other and never let anyone put us down.

Sources  

	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming

Https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/10/nunavut-rcmp-apologizes-women-backpacks-avoid-rape_a_23074191/?utm_hp_ref=ca-victim-blaming

URL:	https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marcia-sirota/its-time-to-start-believing-victims-of-sexual-assault_a_23347029/

Photo credits to: (https://www.google.ca/search?q=victim+blaming&safe=strict&rlz=1C1GCEV_enCA827&tbm=isch&source=lnt&tbs=sur:f&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifibnDkZ3fAhXGwMQHHRRlAx4QpwUIIA&biw=1366&bih=657&dpr=1#imgrc=FbOo2UFdYGCdVM:)