A friend of mine was a victim of theft on the bus. Someone stole their phone from right out of their hands; it was quick, and the thief immediately left the bus and disappeared into the night.
Of course, their friends and I were sympathetic and supportive, but imagine the kind of world where we blamed victims of theft for such crimes being inflicted on them? Imagine receiving questions like...
"Why were you looking at your phone on the bus?"
"People who but iPhones are just sling for trouble."
You have a phone? You're flirting with disaster!
"You don't have a phone? You're a prude!"
These are only some of the ridiculous statements I can write at this moment, but there are dozens more. Yet, we do this to victims of abuse and assault almost all the time, so if we would never make such ludicrous statements to victims of theft, how should we address victims of assault?
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