Name : Mashtura Tabassum Prova

ID: 2012319647
Course: Eng105
Section: 15
Faculty: NSB
Date: May 19, 2021
Research Topic: Victim Blaming Culture in Bangladesh
Acknowledgment

First of all , I want to thank my course instructor, Noora Shamsi Bahar for being so patient
and guiding me throughout the semester. I’ve learned a lot in her class which will help me a
lot in my future. Secondly, my sincerest gratitude to everyone who filled out the survey
questionnaire and helped me in my research. Without their help I would not have been able to
complete my survey. And special thanks to my friend Mim who helped me collect so many
survey participants.

Page-1
ABSTRACT
The main goal of my research was to find the behavior of people in our society towards
someone who is a victim to rape or sexual assault. It is often seen that whenever someone is

victim to sexual assault, people of the society try to find their mistakes and point them out for

the incident rather that exposing the victim. This effects the society because by doing victim

blaming, the criminals aren’t exposed and crimes doesn’t decrease. Again it also effects the

victim resulting in severe depression and self-blaming. The research has been conducted with

the assumption that people blame the victim as if maintaining modesty and social norms is

only a women’s duty. I also expected that modern educated youth don’t support victim

blaming for dress or any other thing rather they think the criminal should be exposed

otherwise it hampers countries criminal justice system. According to the findings of my

research, the majority of the respondents feel that victims shouldn’t be blamed and even if

they are blamed, the victims should not get weak rather stand for themselves. They also feel

that the society is harmed by it and law enforcement team should take action against those

who do victim blaming in social media. So, the findings of my research proves that

hypothesis was correct.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Introduction and background…………… ………………4

2. Research Questions………………………………………6

3. Hypothesis…………………………………………….....7

4. Methodology…………………………………………….8

5. Data Presentation and Analysis…………………………9

6. Summary of Research Findings…………………………13

7. Recommendations………………………………………14

8. Conclusion………………………………………………14

Page-3
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Victim blaming means blaming the victim for the crime that has occurred with them

rather than blaming the criminals. This victim blaming comes from different places for

example: negative response from the society , law enforcement agencies, mental health

professionals, as well as from the media, family members, relatives and many other sources.

Most of the time, the victims are blamed based on the misunderstanding of others where they

believe that victims deserved what happened to them or simply they lacked social values and

modesty. This blaming most of the time leads to a situation where it means that if the victims

avoided certain activities, they wouldn’t have suffered. According to a research article

published in Women’s Health Research Institute, women are told repeatedly to dress less

provocatively, drink less alcohol, and not to put themselves in risky situations. This

proliferates the belief that women are at fault when they are attacked, and leads to a lack of

accountability for men. (Anonymous, para3). There are various reason behind victim

blaming. Some of the reasons can be misconceptions, the just world which means that some

people believe that the world is a good place, it’s just that we get what we deserve in

response to our action. They also blame the victim because sometimes the criminals are

powerful and they portray the entire scenario differently, they also blame the victim because

of the patriarchal society and more influence of men. Lastly, from the ancient time, women

are sufferer of victim blaming because they didn’t use to protest, as a result, people think it’s

really easy to blame them. Also they think that maintaining modestly and social norms is

mainly women’s duty.

Page - 4
 Victim blaming works as a secondary trauma for the victim. This effects them

mentally making them depressed and suicidal. They self-blame themselves and isolate

themselves from the society. It not only effects them, but it effects their family too. Family

members get more shattered and try to protect the victim.

Victim blaming has a bad effect in the society. It hinders the law system. Victims

don’t get proper justice. It marginalizes the survivor, minimizes the criminal act, and makes

people less likely to come forward and report what has happened to them. (Feldman, 2018,

para-4). Victims who receive blame tend to experience insecurities and are less likely to

report future abuse.

Shireen Huq and Syeda Samara Mortada (2019) believes that victim blaming can

be reduced if families hold their males responsible for any crime they do without hiding

them, if sex education is given to high school students, reforming rape laws, if the law

enforcement system takes action properly and lastly by having zero tolerance for victim-

blaming at all levels of society .

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) How common is victim blaming culture in Bangladesh ?

2) What is the mentality of modern educated youth about victim blaming ?

3) Why do people blame the victim?

4) How it effects them mentally?

5) How it effects the society?

6) How to solve this?

Page-6
HYPOTHESIS

From my research, I assumed that victim blaming is common in our country & people blame

the victim as if maintaining modesty and social norms is only a women’s duty. I expected

that modern educated youth don’t support victim blaming for dress or any other thing. I

assumed that people blame the victim because it’s their psychological tendency to think that

people get what they deserve. I assumed that due to victim blaming, victims start self-

victimization and isolate themselves from others. I excepted that this culture effects the

society as the criminals remains hidden and are encouraged rather than being punished which

increases criminal activities more. Lastly, I expected that this can only be solved through

making people aware of the harmful side of this and letting the victim speak up. They should

be listened to and be given proper justice. Though people are still blaming the victim but the

fact that modern and educated youths are supporting the victim gives us a vision of

improvement but it will definitely take time to expect a change.

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METHODOLOGY

For my primary research, I have conducted a survey on the students of various

private and public universities. I have designed a questionnaire with an array of questions and

answers from which the students chose the one they are mostly related to. This will provide

an idea about their perception towards victim blaming, and how it affects the victim and

society. I received 61 responses and found out if any of them think that victims are slightly

responsible for the crime that has befallen them. I also found out how they think the victims

should response to victim blaming and what can be done to reduce this. From the range of

responses, I have got immense help to get answers to questions for my research paper.

For my secondary research, I have used resources from the internet which

includes online articles, online newspapers, blog post etc. I have got many understandings to

my topic starting from the causes why people blame the victim, how it’s harmful for the

victim and the society, how should we react to it, how it hampers the justice system and also

how to control this.

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DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS:

The 6 most important data out of 10 are presented and analyzed in the following graphs, the

rest 4 will be used as supporting statistics in other sections of this paper.

FIGURE NO.1

The first question asks why an individual thinks mostly people of Bangladesh blame the

victim of sexual assault. A bit more than half (52.5%) respondents think that due to lack of

proper religious knowledge people have this misconception think girl’s should maintain

modesty and boys have no work on this. The second highest option (42.6%) states that

people criticize women’s actions & behavior rather than accusing men because of social

superiority of men . A very few participants (3%) chose option 4 which states that families

don’t strict girls from going outside. And nobody chose option 2 I think it’s because they

think that girls and women of all age from kids to olds get raped or harassed, so dress perhaps

can’t be a factor. I think the reason why most of the people went for option 3 is Bangladesh is

a muslim majority country and here most of the people like to drag religion and wants to

proof that women must be covered and maintain modesty and men have no liabilities if

women are harassed. But this is a misconception about the religion.

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 FIGURE NO.2

Here the individuals are asked about how they think victim blaming culture affects the

victim. Here, majority of the survey participants (60.7%) voted for option-3 . Nearly a quarter

(24.6%) of my respondents opted for option-2. We can see that 11.5 % of people choose

option -1 and the least went for option-4 . The reason why people mostly chose option 3 is

victim blaming has a bad effect on victims. In an online article, Dr. Anju Hurria, a

psychiatrist (2016) noted that “It’s really considered a secondary trauma or a secondary

assault….often we’ll see an increase in suicidal ideation, and then it often decreases people’s

chances of reporting future abuses, because there is a fear they won’t be believed, or that

they’ll have to deal with the negative feedback of reporting it.” (para 5).

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 FIGURE-3

Here, participants are asked if blaming victim for dress is right. Here a little over a third of

my respondents went for option 1 which states that dress doesn’t give a consent for anything.

Here a bigger percentage ( 42.6%) chose option 3 which means that dress have nothing to do

with sexual assault as criminals harass all sort of women. This shows that maximum youths

are aware about victim blaming and they are willing to stand in favour of them . And 11.5 %

of the people opted for option 2 &3 where they think dress can be responsible .

FIGURE-4

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In this graph, participants are asked about how this culture effects the society. A slightly

more than a half (52.5%) people chose option 2 where it says due to victim blaming criminals

are hidden and it weakens the justice system. An anonymous person mentioned on an online

article saying, “by engaging in victim-blaming attitudes, society allows the abuser to

perpetrate relationship abuse or sexual assault while avoiding accountability for his/her

actions.” 42.6% participants selected option-1 . And a very little chose option-4. And nobody

selected option-3 .

FIGURE-5

Here more than a half (54.1%) respondents went for option 1. In an article Rokeya Kabir

noted that the law enforcement agencies should keep an eye on people who try to justify rape

as they could be potential rapists…. the Cyber Crime Unit of police should take this issue

seriously and act promptly if they got any complaints. Little more than a third went for option

2. Very few participants selected option 3&4.

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 FIGURE-6

Here most of them went for option 3 where participants doesn’t care about what others say

rather they’ll fight for themselves. Nearly a quarter went for option 4 where to them families

support is main. 16.4% people chose option-2 where they say they would be depressed. And

19.7% chose option-1 where they’d try to convince people.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

After my research was completed, the results indicated that my hypothesis is correct

as more percentage of the students replied which reflected that they support the victim and

are against victim blaming. About 80-90% people supported that victims shouldn’t be blamed

for the dress and a dress doesn’t give consent, they also supported that the criminals are

hidden due to victim blaming which hides them increasing the crimes. Through the findings

in my primary and secondary research , it can be clearly stated that victims shouldn’t be

blamed because its not their fault and it hinders their mental health and the process of justice.

My hypothesis has been proven correct because maximum people agreed with the

facts that victim blaming is mentally harmful for victims & they shouldn’t be blamed for

dress as people of all ages are victims nowadays . They also agreed that this hinders the law

& justice process. Page-13

 From my secondary research I found that , according to an article published in The

Psychology Today David B. Feldman says that, “ our tendency to blame the victim is

ultimately self-protective. It allows us to maintain our rosy worldview and reassure ourselves

that nothing bad will happen to us. The problem is that it sacrifices another person’s well-

being for our own. It overlooks the reality that perpetrators are to blame for acts of crime and

violence, not victims.” (2018,para-13).

RECOMMANDATIONS

I think to solve this victim blaming issue, we should keep supporting the victims, they

should be heard, the religious leaders should make people understand that social norms are

for everyone, various programs should be arranged to give mental support to the victims .

CONCLUSION

Lastly, this research topic helped me gain a huge knowledge on why people blame victims,

how to respond to it , how to solve this etc. I also learned that it is also related to people’s

psychological tendency.

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REFERENCES

(n. d. ). CHANGING THE CULTURE OF VICTIM BLAMING . WOMEN’S HEALTH

RESEARCH INSTITUTE. https://womenshealth.obgyn.msu.edu/blog/changing-culture-

victim-blaming.

Feldman,D.B. (2018, March 02). Why do people blame the victim? Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/supersurvivors/201803/why-do-people-blame-

the-victim.

Huq,S., & Mortada,S.S. (2020, December 29). To tackle sexual violence in Bangladesh the

culture of victim blaming must end. The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/19/to-tackle-sexual-violence-in-

bangladesh-the-culture-of-victim-blaming-must-end

(n. d.). Rape culture, victim blaming, and the facts. Inside Southern.

https://inside.southernct.edu/sexual-misconduct/facts

Page-15
Schroeder, M.O. (2016, April 19). The psychological impact of victim-blaming – and how to

stop it. U.S.NEWS. https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-04-19/the-

psychological-impact-of-victim-blaming-and-how-to-stop-it

Tithila, K.K. (2021, January 14). When rape apologists fuel rape culture on social media.

DhakaTribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/01/14/when-rape-apologists-

fuel-rape-culture-on-social-media

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APPENDIX

Page-17
Original questionnaire

(Tick the correct answer)

Victim blaming culture is a situation in which the victim of any tragic incident/crime (ex;

rape & sexual torture) are held responsible for what happened to them rather than blaming

and exposing the criminal. Women are mostly sufferers of victim blaming in Bangladesh.

Demographic Information:

Age:

18-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

Gender:

Male

Female

Questions:

1) Why do you think mostly people of Bangladesh blame the victim of sexual assault?

People are comfortable with criticizing women’s action& behavior rather than

accusing men because of social superiority of men and it’s been going on like

this for a long time.

 Because girls don’t dress-up well and their families don’t restrict them from

going outside.

Due to lack of proper religious knowledge they think it’s only girl’s part to

maintain modesty and social values and men has no responsibilities whereas

it’s totally a misconception.

Because males are not responsible, it’s women’s duty to protect them so that

males aren’t attracted .

2) Do you think men also suffer from victim blaming like women ?

Yes men are equally sufferers like women

Perhaps they also suffer from victim blaming but very little compared to

women

No, men are not sufferers of victim blaming because the society always makes

them look innocent and they have enough supporters

They suffer more than women

3) Have you ever suffered from victim blaming?

No, I’ve never experienced any tragic incident and hence I haven’t suffered

from victim blaming

Yes, I’ve suffered from victim blaming where people around me questioned
my modesty and social values.

No, I got enough support and motivation from people around me

Yes, some people blamed me but it didn’t make me suffer as I focused on

getting justice rather than wasting my time by listening to their accusations.

4) If you ever suffer from victim blaming what will be your reaction to that ?

I will try to make people around me understand that there has to be nothing

with the victim because the person doing this has a deformed mentality

Perhaps I’ll get mentally sick and depressed on the comments people would

give about me .

I know whether I’m responsible or not and that’s enough for me, I’ll fight for

justice and punishing the criminal.

I don’t care what society or outsiders think of me, my family and their

mentality matters and if they are in support of me , I’m fine with it.

5) How to stop victim blaming over social media ?

By not reacting at all to the accusations .

Victims should complain to The Cyber Crime Unit of police and police should

quickly take necessary actions against those people.

By posting status in support of victim and sharing them in huge number can

increase supporters in favor of girls and lesser the number of accusers.

 Perhaps it won’t ever stop as it’s a huge platform and everyone is given right

to post anything they want, however it can reduce if we continuously support

the victim.

6) How do you think victim blaming culture affect most of the victims ?

It doesn’t have that much effect if the victim doesn’t care about what others

say.

Victims self-blame themselves and stop socializing & demanding justice .

Victims can start getting severely depressed and even can commit suicide.

It has a temporary effect and they recover eventually.

7) How does victim’s family react to it ?

Family members try to motivate the victim and distract them and help them

move forward.

Family members support the accusers and blames the victim for not dressing

well or for staying out at night.

Parents can be extremely shattered by the news that their child was harassed

and the victim blaming culture worsens their mental state and they find it hard

to socialize .

Family members fight for justice constantly and explains the innocence of the
victim.

8) How do you think victim blaming affects the society most importantly?

Victims are afraid & feel unsafe to speak about the assault as a result the

criminal remains hidden.

The criminals are not punished properly as a result crime increases and it

hinders the criminal justice system hugely.

It doesn’t affect the society that much .

Depression and suicidal tendencies increases among young victims .

9) Do only the illiterates blame the victim ?

Absolutely no! There are some people with education but lacks common sense

and they continuously try to prove that it’s the victim’s fault too and the

criminal was only partially responsible.

I don’t think educated people involve in such things because they know that

victim has no fault and it’s the criminal’s sick psychology.

Yes, people with less/no knowledge only blame the victim

Victim blaming is done by all sort of people whether literate or illiterate more

or less because of patriarchal society where men are trusted and supported

more than women.

10) Is blaming the victim for their dress right?

Not at all ,no matter what dress the victim wears, it doesn’t give a consent to

the opposite gender to touch her .

Yes, women should wear dress covering themselves so that opposite gender

isn’t attracted by them.

I think blaming victims for their dress is totally illogical because rapists are

totally sick people who won’t think twice to rape or harm kids, old women and

also women wearing hijab and burkha.

I think the type of dress-up is partially responsible as it attracts people towards

Someone

Page-18
Modified questionnaire

Why do you think mostly people of Bangladesh blame the victim of sexual assault?

 People are comfortable with criticizing women’s actions & behavior rather than

accusing man because of social superiority of man & it's been going on like this for a

long time

 Because girls don't dress we;; while going outside

 Due to lack of proper religious knowledge they think it’s only girl’s part to maintain

modesty and social values and men have no responsibilities whereas it's totally a

misconception

 Because males are not responsible; it’s women’s duty to protect them so that males

aren't attracted

Do you think men also suffer from victim blaming like women do?

 Yes, men are equal sufferers

 Perhaps they also suffer from victim blaming but very little compared to women

 No, men are not sufferers of victim blaming because the society always makes them

look innocent and they have enough supporters

 They suffer more than women

Have you ever suffered from victim blaming?

 No, I’ve never experienced any tragic incident and hence I haven’t suffered from

victim blaming

 Yes, I’ve suffered from victim blaming where people around me questioned my

modesty and social values

Page-19
  No, I got enough support and motivation from people around me

 Yes, some people blamed me but it didn’t make me suffer as I focused on getting

justice rather than wasting my time by listening to their accusations.

If you ever suffer from victim blaming what will be your reaction to that ?

 I will try to make people around me understand that there has to be nothing with the

victim because the harasser has a deformed mentality.

 Perhaps I’ll get mentally sick and depressed by seeing the comments people would

give about me

 I know whether I’m responsible or not and that’s enough for me; I’ll fight for justice

and punishing the criminal.

 I don’t care what society or outsiders think of me; my family and their mentality

matters & if they are in support of me, I'm fine with it.

How can victim blaming be stopped on social media?

 By not reacting at all to the accusations

 Victims should complain to The Cyber Crime Unit of police and police should

quickly take necessary actions against those people.

 By posting status in support of victim and sharing them in huge number can increase

supporters in favor of girls and lessen the number of accusers.

 Perhaps it won’t ever stop as it’s a huge platform and everyone is given right to post

anything they want; however it can reduce if we continuously support the victim.

Page-20
How do you think victim blaming culture affects most of the victims ?

 It doesn’t have that much effect if the victim doesn’t care about what others say

 Victims self-blame themselves and stop socializing & demanding justice

 Victims get suicidal

 It has a temporary effect and they recover eventually.

How does the victim’s family react to it ?

 Family members try to motivate the victim and distract them and help them move

forward

 Family members support the accusers and blame the victim for not dressing well or

for staying out at night.

 Parents can be extremely shattered by the news that their child was harassed and the

victim blaming culture worsens their mental state and they find it hard to socialize

 Family members fight for justice constantly and defend the innocence of the victim.

In what way do you think victim blaming affects the society the most?

 Victims are afraid & feel unsafe to speak about the assault; as a result the criminal

remains hidden

 The criminals are not punished properly; as a result crime increases and it weakens

the criminal justice system greatly

 It doesn’t affect the society that much .

 Depression and suicidal tendencies increase among young victims

Page-21
Do only the illiterates blame the victim ?

 some educated people continuously try to prove that it's the victim's fault too & the

criminal was partially responsible.

 I don’t think educated people get involved in such things.

 Yes, people with less/no knowledge only blame the victim

 Victim blaming is done by all sorts of people whether literate or illiterate

Is blaming the victim for their dress right?

 Not at all ,no matter what dress the victim wears, it doesn’t give a consent to the

opposite gender to touch her

 Yes, women should wear dress covering themselves so that opposite gender isn’t

attracted to them.

 I think blaming victims for their dress is totally illogical because rapists are totally

sick people who won’t think twice to rape or harm kids, old women and also women

wearing hijab and burkha.

 I think the type of dress-up is partially responsible as it attracts people towards

someone

Page-22
ORIGINAL ANNOTADED BIBLIOGRAPHY

To: Noora Shamsi Bahar

From: Mashtura Tabassum Prova

ID: 2012319647

Section: 15 , Course: Eng105

Assignment 3 : Annotated Bibliography

Research Topic: Victim Blaming Culture in Bangladesh

Annotated Bibliography

(n. d. ). CHANGING THE CULTURE OF VICTIM BLAMING . WOMEN’S

HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
https://womenshealth.obgyn.msu.edu/blog/changing-culture-victim-blaming.
This blog post describes about some victim blaming incident, the trend of victim
blaming and how it’s harmful. It also states that women and men should learn more
about victims and victim blaming to stop the culture.

Feldman,D.B. (2018, March 02). Why do people blame the victim? Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/supersurvivors/201803/why-do-people-
blame-the-victim.

This article gives detailed description about how is psychology responsible for victim
blaming.

Page-23
Huq,S., & Mortada,S.S. (2020, December 29). To tackle sexual violence in
Bangladesh the culture of victim blaming must end. The Guardian. Retrieved April
24, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/19/to-
tackle-sexual-violence-in-bangladesh-the-culture-of-victim-blaming-must-end
This article talks about the systematic discrimination against women by family and
society, people’s weak mindset, zero tolerance about victim blaming, changing the
law and also about including comprehensive sex education in high school level.

(n. d.). Rape culture, victim blaming, and the facts. Inside Southern.
https://inside.southernct.edu/sexual-misconduct/facts
This articles explains rape culture, defines victim blaming, why it’s dangerous, how
does it look like, how to combat victim blaming and facts about domestic violence
and sexual assault

Schroeder, M.O. (2016, April 19). The psychological impact of victim-blaming – and
how to stop it. U.S.NEWS. https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-04-
19/the-psychological-impact-of-victim-blaming-and-how-to-stop-it
This article mentions how harmful is victim-blaming for the victims and it’s
psychological effects i.e. it leads to secondary trauma, anxiety attack and depressions
and self victimization.

Tithila, K.K. (2021, January 14). When rape apologists fuel rape culture on social
media. DhakaTribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/01/14/when-
rape-apologists-fuel-rape-culture-on-social-media
This article mentions an incident of victim-blaming. It states the role of a particular
group and social media in increasing victim blaming culture, the role of family,
society & religion and also mentions how Cyber Crime Unit of police should control
this situation in social media.

Page-24
Screenshot of the survey

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