Victim Blaming — Why it isn’t “your fault”
Imagine the following situation: Linda and Jeff are dating and have been exchanging personal nude photos with each other. They have agreed on keeping those pictures between the two of them. However, Jeff decides to forward some of Lindas pictures to his friend group. Later on, Linda finds out and is devastated. She is sad and angry about Jeff breaking her trust. Jeff and his friends are not very understanding. “If this bothers you, you shouldn’t have sent those pictures in the first place.”, they say.
This scenario is what we call “Victim Blaming”: Linda is clearly the victim in this situation but gets told that she is responsible for what happened to her pictures — simply because she shared those pictures with her boyfriend.
Unfortunately, Victim Blaming isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. The term was first introduced in the 1970s in the United States, when sex crime offenders tried to reject the blame for an assault, holding the actual victim entirely or partially responsible for the assault. Even today, Victim Blaming is an everyday issue, for example when especially women are blamed for assaults because they were “dressed inappropriate” or “asking for it”.
Throughout the digitalization and the increase in the exchange of personal and nude material online, a new form of Victim Blaming has emerged. Exchanging nudes via social media, texts, dating platforms or other media has become more common. Unfortunately, not everybody is as trustworthy as he/she seems. Many nudes that were meant to be sent in private finally end up openly accessible to the public, seemingly out of reach for the person in the picture (which is why we founded www.aminporn.org). Platforms like OnlyFans etc. also promote the idea of sharing personal and intimate material in exchange for money.
The most important thing is that all intimate photos and videos may be published or distributed only with the express consent of the person depicted. Socially and legally, unfortunately, there is often much more focus on the person who created the photos than on the person who illegally distributed the photos. If material is published and/or distributed against the will of the person depicted and the person is held responsible for this, we speak of Victim Blaming.
Victim Blaming is a very serious issue. It means serious consequences for the victim. The victim is out of control of the situation but held responsible for the cause. There is wide range of professional or personal consequences, such as depression, trauma, self-harm or, in the worst case, suicide.
It is important that we understand that the victim is not the one to blame. In a situation, like Linda’s in the introduction, there shouldn’t be anyone pointing fingers. It isn’t anyone’s job to judge what Linda did. Possibly, some of you have been personally affected and have been a victim of Victim Blaming. It is already harsh enough for the victim.
If you or, a friend, a family member or anyone you know has been affected, please know that you are not alone. In Germany for example, there are several laws that protect your rights and your privacy.
For example:
Law on Copyright in Works of Fine Arts and Photography (“Gesetz betreffend das Urheberrecht an Werken der bildenden Künste und der Photographie)
§ 33:
(1) Whoever distributes or publicly displays a likeness in contravention of § 22, 23 shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine.
or
German Criminal Code (“Strafgesetzbuch” — StGB) § 201a:
(1) Anyone who makes or transmits unauthorized image recordings of another person who is in a dwelling or in a room that is particularly protected against viewing, and thereby violates that person’s highly personal sphere of life, shall be punished by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine.
You have the option to report and prosecute the unlawful distribution of personal photos.
However, you do not have to do this. You can also turn to friends and confidants if you are affected, whether by image dissemination or victim blaming. We as an organization are also here for you if you are affected. We will not judge you. You are not alone. It isn’t your fault.
Visit our website: www.amiinporn.org.
