Counsellor Says Victim-Blaming and Attacks Impact the Victims

Cynthia Williams

The issue of victim-blaming, when people resort to social media platforms to attack others, has become quite a problem.  That’s according to Cynthia Williams, the Human Development Coordinator at the Women’s Department. She says that the attacks can be so bad, that it affects the victims’ performance at work and otherwise.

Cynthia Williams, Human Dev. Coordinator, Women’s Dept.

“They are not even giving out their real names, and so it gives them the sense of freedom. So we definitely have seen quite a lot of tactics being used in terms of victims – not only in terms of, you know, different forms of abuses. When you look at gender-based violence in general, being used as a form of furthering specific messages, unfortunately, it’s always looking at the victim and putting further blame. And so we have to really understand that when we use those type of strategies or people just behaving that way, in general, it further, victimizes the victim. It causes additional distress on the person who’s already suffering. We know that any type of trauma can produce post traumatic stress disorder as well as depression. And so by seeing these reactions from the general public, victims often feel even more voice. If those who are willing to come forward to make any type of report of any type of violence, the fact that they’re seeing these type of reactions within social media, often makes them feel not to want to proceed with a report, not to proceed with any legal action. So, it has further implications not only in terms of the victim’s psychological position if reactions and consequences, but just in general.”