Victim Shaming In David Osborne's She Was Gagging For It

“Her skirt was too short”, “She was asking for it.”, “Did you see the way she was dancing?”, “She should not have flirted with him so much”, “She was drunk, that is her own fault”. These statements are frequently used to excuse the actions of rapists and in turn place blame on victims of sexual assault. Although victim shaming is alarmingly common and could easily be stopped, little effort or attention is focused on the subject. Shaming is often ignored because many do not want to admit they have shamed or they think their comment was too innocent to be considered shaming. Little do they know, the comment they just made to their friend who was assaulted, just caused her to question whether it was her fault she was attacked. Bringing awareness …show more content…
Men are more likely to shame because they are not usually victims of sexual assault therefore they have a different viewpoint. According to The Guardian, 98% of assailants are male and only 1 in 71 men are raped or assaulted versus 1 in 5 women. Men are more likely to see rape as the victims fault because they believe they can “justify” why the woman was asking for it. David Osborne, who wrote a blog post titled “She Was Gagging for It”, believes that being intoxicated during a sexual encounter does not constitute rape. Other statements in the “She was Gagging for It” blog post are demeaning to not only rape victims, but women as a whole. Males like David Osborne give the gender a bad reputation by making it seem as though men believe they are superior to women therefore entitled to their bodies. “Boys will be boys” does not justify or excuse the actions of rapists or victim shamers, it instills the rape culture in young men that we are trying so hard to stray away from. Men that victim shame tend to have a pre existing issue with females and use the assault as a way to further degrade