History Main / BlamingTheVictim

* ''Kirby: Right Back At Ya!'': The cappies of cappy town have a habit of blaming Kirby when things start to get too intense for them. Forgetting that Dedede has been ordering monsters before Kirby even showed up and he certainly did'nt ask to be hunted by some psycho company. The worst of it is in the finale where after Kirby has been rendered unconscious and thus unable to do anything while cappy Town was destroyed the villiagers all turn on him and even tell him to leave. And they never apologize for this during the finale either.

* ''Manga/MyLoveStory'', kicking off the entire series, a man who was caught groping Rinko on the train tries to defend himself by saying she was "asking for it". [[{{Understatement}} Takeo disagrees.]] [[MegatonPunch Strongly.]]

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Brienne and Jaime come across the bodies of three women who were hanged by Stark soldiers for having sex with Lannister soldiers, whom they are currently at war with; they state the women deserved it because they betrayed their country. Brienne [[CurbStompBattle disagrees]]. To make matters worse, it's left ambiguous if the three women willingly had sex with the Lannister soldiers at all, seeing as both sides are guilty of committing war crimes against the smallfolk.

** Another episode of ''Leverage'' has a corrupt Vice-President at a food company destroying reports of tainted food. He justifies it to the Leverage Team by saying that the package specifically states to heat the food to a particular temperature to avoid bacteria so that if people get sick, it's their own fault for not following proper instructions. This is a subversion, however, as he's threatening Hardison as he says it.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', more than a few [[VillainOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] defend themselves by laying blame at the feet of their victims, but the standout example has to be Greg "The Mako" Sherman. When instructing his underlings on how to rip off their victims, he declares, "If they're too dumb to hold on to their money, they don't deserve to have it."

As this is both TruthInTelevision and a highly sensitive matter, No Real Life Examples.

In fiction, Blaming The Victim usually takes on one of two basic forms. In the first, the perpetrator is attempting to justify their own bad behavior.

In fiction, the Blaming The Victim usually takes on one of two basic forms. In the first, the perpetrator is attempting to justify their own bad behavior.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Film-Animated]]

[[folder:Film-Live Action]]

* ''Film/Daredevil2003'': Early in the film, Matt and Foggy are defending a woman named Angela who was raped by a rich and powerful man named Jose Quesada. Both Quesada and his lawyer argue that the sexual encounter was consensual and use Angela's criminal history against her. Quesada is acquitted, leading to Matt taking matters into his own hands.

** One particular episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' has a victim who wrote a novel similar to ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGray''. The perpetrator tries to say that it was a completely consensual act based on her books, hoping the public, and thus the jury pool, will engage in Blaming The Victim and feel that she deserved it. A.D.A. Barba tricks the defendant into demonstrating with a belt how he choked the woman. The man responds, after some provocation, into pulling hard on the belt in front of the jury. Barba demonstrated that as hard as it had pulled on his throat, it had barely left a mark, then showed photographs of the deep bruising it had done on the woman's throat. The jury rejects the defendant's argument.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': In issue #95, Artemis visits a shelter for women escaping abused relationships. Artemis asks one woman why she didn't fight back against her abusive husband. When the woman responds that the man would have killed her, Artemis coldly responds, "Good! Better they starve than have a mother who is a parasite and a coward!". Even a reporter doing a newscast on the shelter is appalled by this response.

This is the favorite tactic of a ManipulativeBastard. Compare and contrast with AssholeVictim (although the perpetrator might try to cast their victim as such) and KickTheSonOfABitch, which is where a character is thought to deserve what happens to them but isn't necessarily blamed for it.

* The UsefulNotes/NintendoDS tie-in game for the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' film has Megatron crush the player character for being [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness badly damaged]]. The player character protests that he could be repaired, but Megatron kills him and [[YourSoulIsMine devours his Spark]] anyway, sneering it would be a waste of resources. Naturally, Megatron ignores that the player character helped [[UngratefulBastard thaw him out of his frozen prison]] and had just fought (and defeated!) an [=AllSpark=]-empowered [[TheStarscream Starscream]] (which was the cause of his heavy damage).

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': This is part of the Judges' over-the-top attitude to policing. The Judges will often arrest the victims of a crime for "enticement", if for example, their car was stolen in a high-crime district or if they were seen with expensive jewelry. Even if they aren't, the victims of a major crime are often still arrested for one of several lesser ones, including [[JaywalkingWillRuinYourLife jaywalking]].

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': Cell makes a BlackHumor parody while chasing Android 18 with the intent of absorbing her and evolving into his perfect form.

--->'''Brian:''' What if the woman was raped?
---> '''Peter:''' She should have thought of that before asking me for directions.

-> '''Haruka:''' [[SchoolgirlLesbians Two women]] behaving [[DudeShesLikeInAComa like that]] with each other. You're filthy! Both you ''AND'' Natsuki Kuga! (Shizuru slaps her)
-> '''Shizuru:''' [[AmbiguousSituation What happened]] was something that ''I'' did to ''her''. I will not have you insulting Natsuki.

WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou is one of the forms of victim blaming. Can also overlap with SlutShaming.

For more information on the subject, see UsefulNotes.VictimBlaming. Compare GoodVictimsBadVictims, which is when writers use specific character types to influence audience feelings about a victim in a work.

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Kunugigaoka divides students into A, B, C, D and E classes based on grades, with the Class E students having the lowest grades and being placed in a separate campus away from the main school with sub-par resources. No concessions are made for students no matter their reasons for having poor grades, meaning many of the Class E students are perfectly intelligent and capable, yet are essentially punished for circumstances out of their control.
* ''Anime/MyHime'': Yukino accuses Shizuru of [[AmbiguousSituation doing]] ''[[AmbiguousSituation something]]'' [[AmbiguousSituation to Natsuki in her sleep]]. Haruka declares that relationships between women are disgusting, and that both Shizuru ''and'' Natsuki are filthy, despite clearly having heard Yukino say that Shizuru did it "while Natsuki was sleeping". What's more, Haruka had just witnessed Shizuru [[DudeShesLikeInAComa kissing an unconscious Natsuki, earlier]]. In a rare case of the perpetrator defending the victim, Shizuru speaks up, declaring, "What happened was something that ''I'' did to ''her''. I will not allow you to insult Natsuki."

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': This is part of the Judges over-the-top attitude to policing. The Judges will often arrest the victims of a crime for "enticement", if for example, their car was stolen in a high-crime district or if they were seen with expensive jewelry. Even if they aren't, the victims of a major crime are often still arrested for one of several lesser ones, including [[JaywalkingWillRuinYourLife jaywalking]].

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': Also an example of GreyAndGreyMorality. When Butch refuses to take a dive in his boxing match, he inadvertantly kills his opponent, and reasons that the guy deserved it for being an inferior boxer ("If he hadn't laced his gloves up in the first place he'd still be alive.") Of course, it ''could'' also be argued that if the opponent hadn't agreed to a fixed fight in the first place he'd still be alive.

* ''Film/Scream3'': The film reveals that Sidney's mother Maureen Prescott was once an aspiring actress named Rina Reynolds who was gangraped at a party. [[spoiler:John Milton]], the leader of the gangrape, argues that "Nothing happened to her that she didn't invite... in one way or another no matter what she said afterwards."

* In ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', the Aunts preach that Janine was to blame for her being gang-raped at fourteen, insisting she led her rapists on and that God was "teach[ing] her a lesson". The other Handmaids are forced to repeat this to Janine over and over, until she finally breaks down and 'agrees' that it was her fault. The Aunts in general state that [[ImAManICantHelpIt men can't always control themselves]] and that it's up to women to keep themselves modest so men won't be tempted. 

* ''Series/TheFactsOfLife''. Natalie had a NearRapeExperience that traumatized her. At the end, she goes to a self defense class in which the instructor goes into detail on how Natalie could of prevented the encounter. The way he was phrasing it comes across as if he was blaming her for not being better prepared.

** Another episode of ''Leverage'' has a corrupt Vice-President at a food company destroying reports of tainted food. He justifies it to the Leverage Team by saying that the package specifically states to heat the food to a particular temperature to avoid bacteria, so that if people get sick, it's their own fault for not following proper instructions. This is a subversion, however, as he's threatening Hardison as he says it.

** Kamoshida humiliates Ryuji by telling everyone about his home life in a bid to make his volleyball team the only frontline sports team in the school. This causes Ryuji to attack him, and Kamoshida [[DisproportionateRetribution retaliates by breaking Ryuji's leg]] in 'self defense', then disbands the track team, causing his teammates to view him as a traitor.

** In "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.", Quagmire stages an intervention for Brenda, who's been [[DomesticAbuse abused by her boyfriend, Jeff]]. He gives her a tearful speech, saying that she's chosen to make her life a living hell by staying with Jeff and that she's not a "woman" since he believes a woman wouldn't tolerate this kind of treatment.

-->'''Brian:''' What if the woman was raped?
--> '''Peter:''' She should have thought of that before asking me for directions.

[[/folder]]

-> '''Haruka:''' Two women behaving [[DudeShesLikeInAComa like]] [[SchoolgirlLesbians that]] with each other. You're filthy! Both you ''AND'' Natsuki Kuga! (Shizuru slaps her)

** [[WesternAnimation/Rango Rattlesnake Jake]] shames a six-year-old [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Gideon Gleeful]] for being raped by Bill Cipher because it makes him impure and possibly gay, and claims he has to be raped again to be "cured."
** [[WesternAnimation/Freaktown Boo Boo]] blames Priscilla for her own assault, even though Princess set it up.

** Basil Baker's father implied Basil's rape was due to naivety, saying he's old enough to know about "stranger danger."
** Bill Cipher shames a six-year-old Gideon for being raped because it makes him impure and possibly gay, and claims he has to be raped ''again'' to be "cured."
** Princess blames Priscilla for her own assault, even though Princess set it up.
** Miss Kitty is assaulted outside of a club, and when the police arrive, they arrest ''her'' for "soliciting" because she's a sex worker, which is also why she was attacked to begin with. To contrast, her assailants only get charged for "disturbing the peace."