No one but the rapist is at fault

In the courtroom, a common defense tactic used is to bring the victim's past sexual history to light. It has been shown that jurys are more likely to be leinient on the perpetrator if they believe that there was some "contributory fault." Contributory fault, as defined by Lawyers.com, is responsibility for aiding in the accomplishment of a bad result. This basically means that the jury believes that the victim was somehow to blame for her rape.

However, the victim's past sexual history should have absolutely nothing to do with her rape trial. Rape, as defined by Dictionary.com, is the unlawful compelling of a women through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse. Sex is consensual. Rape is not. Rape is someone forcing someone else to have sex with them when they do not want to.

How can rape ever been seen to be the victims fault? It doesn't matter if the victim is a prostitute or a nun. No means no. This victim blaming mentality that our society has adopted is detrimental to the reporting of rapes. Rapes are the least reported crime. This is due to the embarassing nature of it and because of the victim blaming that goes along with a rape accusation. Somehow, a woman who said no, and meant no, really meant yes. This doesn't make sense.

I think this victim blaming mentality shows a deeper problem in society. One that we, as individuals, need to consider and try to stop. We can stop this victim blaming mentality by not allowing ourselves even the thought of "she was asking for it."