International Day Against Victim-Blaming
Let’s join hands to stand against victim-blaming
For centuries, and even now, people have been in the habit of ignoring the real problem. Since then, civilization has evolved enough for the people to dictate the terms of what is appropriate and what is not! It has been a society that is more interested in smearing and gossiping in the face of the problem than to address the issue in the face.
Since before that, it has been a society favoring the stronger ones above the ones being threatened and abused by the power. The rule of the jungle is still applicable it seems. But, this doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do. We believe that our civilized manners are what makes us better than animals. If that’s true, Why are we still being animals when it comes to acting as the so-called civilized society and helping the weaker ones rise to the best?
Whenever, a person is abused by someone, whether sexually, physically, or otherwise, the first response that our society has had for as far as we can remember is blaming the person for not being careful enough. It is no secret that society is and has been patriarchal and women and other genders have fallen victim at its feet. This doesn’t stop at just diminishing their social standing but also viewing them as objects for a man’s exploitation.
The other half of the society has been subject to rapes, domestic violence, and abuse from men all this way, including children. All this while the society cultivated a habit of blaming the victims, either for their clothing, provoking, or even their so-called inappropriate behavior. This discourages the victims to speak up and standing for themselves. On the other hand, it provokes the culprits to keep hunting for more victims and ruining more lives.
When instead of helping the victims to get the culprit punished, we blame them. It accomplishes nothing but makes the victims feel like prisoners in their own lives. They don’t speak up against the crimes that they have endured and society is more susceptible to more such crimes by the same culprits or encourages others to be one as well. Since there are no repercussions.
More often than not, these victims need help stepping out of this abuse and moving on with their life. Victim-blaming makes it impossible for them to even try and seek help for their own sakes. This makes our growth as a society redundant, after all a society cannot be said to be growing if its members are not even safe in their own standing. With this continued catastrophe of victim-blaming, we have managed to build jungles amongst us inhabiting creatures more viscous than anything found in the jungles.
Not anymore. people, at least some of them, who understand this problem have come forward to change this scenario bit by bit, one step at a time. To celebrate this wave of change and to honour the sacrifices of many that came before us, April 3 has been declared as International Day Against Victim-blaming. Hoping this to create more awareness.
We, at Cossouq, stand with this movement and support the ideology that each person needs to feel comfortable in their individuality and given an opportunity to be celebrated for their journey of life.
