Does Christianity Encourage Victim Blaming

Has Christianity Encouraged Victim-Blaming? Victim blaming is “a social and psychological phenomenon wherein the fault in a crime (rape, robbery, assault) is attributed to the victim. The victim is regarded as partly or completely responsible (to blame) for the accident or trauma. These are but forms of rationalization and coping mechanisms in an attempt to distance one's self from the victim and the problem” (Psychology Dictionary). There is a reason a psychological dictionary offers a definition of victim-blaming at all - it is because there exists a psychological reason why human beings engage in victim blaming. Juliana Breines explains in an article titled “Why Do We Blame Victims?” that “victim blaming tendencies are rooted in the belief

Rosemary Radford Ruether, in the first chapter of Sexism and God-Talk, argues that if the goal of Christianity is the redemption of humanity, and women make up half of humanity, then whatever may detract from the full humanity and liberation of women is not redemptive. In this way, she implies that sexism is not Christian, and seems to suggest that it is a sin. The sexism inherent in sexual assault victim-blaming thus undermines the logic of victim-blaming. Similar logic can be applied to poverty victim-blaming, as poor people also make up a large part of humanity - if the goal of Christianity is the redemption of humanity, and the poor make up a large part of humanity, then whatever may detract from the full humanity and liberation of the poor is not redemptive, and thus

The entire idea of sexuality or anything that prompts thoughts of sexuality being immoral causes attractive features to be perceived as sexually immoral themselves so that they must be hidden. Yet, these expectations only seem to apply to women. Women are expected to dress modestly and behave in a demure and innocent fashion in order to indicate their sexual purity. As explained by political writer Amanda Marcotte in her article “How Christian conservatives blame victims and let rapists walk free,” this puts an undue emphasis on women as the “controllers of sex and the people who have the responsibility of enforcing chastity.” If women are seen as being in control of sex, then they can be blamed when they are sexually assaulted because they supposedly tempted the assailant. In addition, the widely disseminated ideas of St. Augustine further contribute to this idea of women being in control of sex because he describes sexual desire for men as inescapable and enslaving, such that they cannot control their urges in Books II and III of his Confessions. Thus, when enticed supposedly by the way a woman is dressed or behaves, a man can say that he cannot help