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Analyzing Societal Blame of Women and Pushing for Change: A Critical

Examination of Victim-Blaming in Jessica Taylor's Novel

Yuriy Petruncio

Department of Law and Justice, Central Washington University – Ellensburg

LAJ 216: Race, Gender and Justice

Professor Trye Price

3/6/2024
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Analyzing Societal Blame of Women and Fighting for Change: A Critical

Examination of Victim-Blaming in Jessica Taylor's Novel

The victim blaming of women in today's cultures and society is a massive problem and

we need to push for change and most importantly we should be doing what’s right. The novel,

Why Women are Blamed for Everything: Exposing the Culture of Victim Blaming, written by

Jessica Taylor takes aim at bringing awareness to a real problem in society, which is the blaming

and victimizing of women after they have experienced trauma and violence. This novel, though

published in 2020, is still relevant in 2024 which is a real problem in and of itself and hopefully,

as this book gets out to more people, we will see a change in the way society perceives affected

women who suffer from victim blaming in today's society. Jessica Taylor is PhD certified in

forensic psychology and she is the CEO of Victim Focus, she is based in the United Kingdom

where she researches trauma patients, victim-blaming, and violence towards women. She has on

the fieldwork of talking to and helping survivors who have been through abuse and trauma and

she has a true passion for advocating for women's rights and fighting for a more just society

where women are not wrongly blamed for the actions others do to them.
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Literature Summary

Throughout the novel, Jessica Taylor talks about numerous ways in which women have

been victimized and blatantly ignored just because they are women. The book talks about the

historical roots of victim blaming and the cultural and societal beliefs that have shaped a

worldwide view of women being the root cause problem for the things that happen to them.

Taylor also talks about how different systems fail at what they are supposed to do, systems, such

as the criminal justice system, social services, and health care providers need to do a better job at

listening to women and undermining there efforts to find justice. These systems are following the

ideology that woman are responsible for the actions of others, and if they are taken advantage of,

they put it upon themselves for the place they went, the clothes they were wearing, the alcohol

they were drinking, the mental illness they have, or even just being alone. Taylor highlights the

importance of fighting for reform in in the criminal justice system, social services, and healthcare

providers. These places are supposed to support people who have been taken advantage of, and

to fight against crime and punish those who commit heinous acts. Taylor makes it clear that she

believes we can advocate for changing the unfair social dynamics women face on a day to day

basis, and instead of brushing women off who are victims of violence and making them believe

that it was their fault, we can push to have systems be better at empowering women and letting

them know that they can stand up against violence, and know that they will have multiple

different systems that will support them in their effort to hold crime committing men responsible

for their actions. Taylor talks about numerous different ways in which we can support survivors,

one way includes, bringing awareness to the public about the reality of women being victimized

and the true detrimental effects victim-blaming can have on a women’s physical, and mental

health. By educating and bringing awareness to the public, we can effectively challenge the
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social stigma towards women and hopefully prevent criminals from getting away with raping and

assaulting innocent women. Throughout the book, Taylor talks about case studies that she

actually conducted herself on individuals who faced trauma, and the impact that it had on the

victim-blamed survivors. She also mentions how victim-blaming is also connected with other

forms of oppression that include, not only sexism, but also classism and racism and how they add

to the challenges that woman face already.

Overall, Taylor provides information that is truly shocking to read, and very

disheartening. We must work together to create a more supportive society for survivors of

violence and trauma, because it’s the right thing to do.

Critical Analysis

Reading Jessica Taylor’s novel, Why Women are Blamed for Everything, was a very eye

opening experience for myself. As an 18 year old white male who has never experienced victim-

blaming or trauma, I have certainly heard things whether it be on social media, or in person,

about women being blamed for something that happened to them. It is truly not right to say that a

woman is responsible for the behaviors in which men act upon. To say that a woman is not

allowed to dress a certain way or she is calling upon men to rape her and that it’s her fault that

they acted that way is just disgusting and should not be tolerated in the slightest. Women

shouldn’t have to worry at all about how their actions might influence a man to take advantage of

her. Women should be allowed to attend a bar without being sexually assaulted, they should be

able to walk home without the fear of being raped and beat in the middle of the street, women
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should not have to live in fear in which they have to succumb to in order to not be attacked. It’s

also important to realize that even if a women does everything that society tells her to do in order

to stay safe, there is still a chance that she could brutally attacked and raped and somehow people

will still find some kind of reason for why it was the woman’s fault. It has been so far stretched,

that people will blame women for things that are completely out of their control, such as a

woman’s ethnicity, her perceived attractiveness, and her body shape. Another huge takeaway

from the book is the massive problem with institutions such as social services, the criminal

justice system, and healthcare. These systems fail at what they are supposed to be good at, which

is serving others and preventing injustice. Taylor talks firsthand with survivors of sexual

violence who have turned to healthcare for help, and instead of leaving healthcare feeling better,

women are instead being falsely diagnosed with different kind of disorders, and mental illnesses.

This causes women to feel even worse about their current situation and can lead to spiraling

downfall of depression and the only aid being medication. Instead, healthcare providers should

provide compassion to a survivor of sexual violence and attempt to help them find justice with

legal assistance, or attempt to find counseling so that they can find relief in talking about their

trauma. The criminal justice system also has massive room for improvement when dealing with

females who are attempting to seek justice through opening up about being sexually assaulted.

The criminal justice system needs to do a better job at improving their initial response to sexual

violence survivors. Instead of trying to find blame in the woman’s actions, the system needs to

empower survivors and listen to what they have to say. Instead of pushing preventive measures

for a survivor, there should be empathy for them because they should not be lectured on how

they made a mistake and that they should have been more cautionary because men can be

aggressive.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, Jessica Taylor’s novel affectively informs readers of the true problem we

are facing in society and the ways in which we can fight to see a better system that is better

equipped in dealing with survivors of sexual violence. The criminal justice system, healthcare,

and social service system all need to do a better job at being empathetic towards survivors and

instead of trying to find fault in a woman’s actions, we must find accountability in men and get

them to stop committing heinous crimes because it should never be a woman’s fault for the

actions a man imposes upon a woman.

References

Jessica Taylor, 2020, Why Women are Blamed for Everything: Exposing the Culture of

Victim-Blaming