Factors that can trigger victim-blaming behaviour in violence cases

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Clinical psychologist Gisella Tani Pratiwi, M.Psi, Psychologist, has stated that the behaviour of blaming victims of violence can be triggered by a lack of empathy and understanding of the dynamics of the victim’s relationship. “Perhaps they also have minimal empathy,” said the University of Indonesia psychology graduate when contacted by ANTARA from Jakarta on Wednesday. “Perhaps many people are also very busy and full of their own difficulties, so when something happens that is, in quotation marks, beyond their reasoning, they become very to the point, and that results in victim blaming,” she explained. Social media platform users who post comments lacking empathy and tending to blame victims of violence, according to her, may be less able to filter and respond to information wisely. “Sometimes they also do not have a sort of filter regarding what is appropriate to comment on when someone is experiencing this kind of condition, where the victim’s situation is already one of great suffering,” she said. According to her, victim-blaming behaviour is also related to a lack of understanding about the problems within a violent relationship. People who have never experienced violence in a relationship may find it difficult to understand why a victim does not leave the perpetrator after enduring various forms of manipulation, confinement, and violence. “They feel that, ‘logically, if you are hurt, you should walk away’,” she said. “But they do not understand that in the context of a violent relationship, there is psychological manipulation, a relationship that is monopolised or controlled, dominated by the perpetrator, with various motives, which could be economic, emotional, sexual, and so on,” she said. Due to a lack of empathy and understanding of the problems of violence in relationships, people can even blame victims who have clearly suffered physical and psychological distress. Gisella emphasised the importance of prioritising empathy when conveying responses to information about cases of violence on social media platforms. “We need to continue to prioritise empathy, because we do not know what truly happened to that person or victim,” she said.