Introduction:
Blame against victims, regarding offences against the person, such as rape or bullying, seems to be a generally consistent social phenomenon, regardless of cultural or historical context.
It is usually the victim who feels deep shame and embarrassment (to the extent of committing suicide or going insane) and it is also the public who also put them to shame and embarrassment in either explicit or implicit ways.
Question:
But why does the victim feel shame? Why is the public response insulting the victim for being a victim?
Some thoughts:
My own hypothesis is that being a victim of a humiliating offence is unconsciously perceived (on an evolutionary psychology level) as a major weakness of the individual, to the extent of becoming a vulnerability (or liability, if you will) for the whole social group.
(In contrast, the perpetrator of humiliating offence seems to be generously spared retribution by the social group and probably there are evolutionary psychology perspectives on this?)
All this being speculations, of course, I am looking for scientific research of victim blaming in the context described.
