EDITORIAL: Blame should lie with violator, not victim

Users request specific women or make a callout for photos of women from a particular school, university or area in Australia.

This week, the Bega District News learnt there is a section of the website calling for photos of women from the Bega region. 

Not only is the act of sharing such photos a complete betrayal of trust, it can have a horrendous effect on the victims’ mental health.

It is something that could haunt these women and their families for the rest of their lives, affecting career prospects, future relationships and damage how they are seen by their peers.

Some commentary over the issue has said the women could have avoided these consequences by not taking the photos in the first place. 

But this attitude avoids laying the blame where it belongs; the most-likely young men sharing the photos with others. 

What women do with their bodies is absolutely up to them. 

They have the right to take an intimate photo and share it with someone they trust.

It is the people who violate that trust and publicly share the photos that have made an unconscionable decision. 

Despite the revelation of this website, the act of taking intimate photos is something that will not disappear. 

New technology pervades our lives, with youth embracing it at a faster rate than the older population.

So the crossover between technology and sexuality is unpreventable. 

Victim-blaming is an attitude about choosing the easy way out.

You may have heard these phrases in relation to sexual assault: “She shouldn’t have been there and it wouldn’t have happened” or “She was dressed provocatively so was asking for it”. 

Here, we are saying the woman needs to change her behaviour to avoid being violated, because that is simpler than putting the responsibility on men.

But it is the behaviours of some men that need to change, to respect women as equal human beings and not something to be exploited for their own personal pleasure or gain.