Blog Post 2

To teach someone to be anything but the best versions of themselves is something I don’t understand. Growing up in my household my mother was always the strongest person in my life. She taught my two sisters and I the value of always sticking up for yourself no matter what the situation is. Reading from the perspective of Debra Anne Davis in her article was interesting because it allowed me to see how the influence of society has conditioned some women to think. Debra starts of her article, “Betrayed by the Angel: What Happens When Violence Knocks and Politeness Answers?” with her recalling a time in her childhood where she felt too passive to confront her bully or even ask for help was very eye opening. It showed me that while all my life I’ve been taught to confront my problems, women are conditioned to behave the opposite. She tells the story of Samantha and Endora. Samantha hide her best qualities and while Endora displayed strength along with other qualities of a strong woman was seen as an evil step-mother. In early years girls are pushed to be more like Samantha and shield themselves from society. Debra then opens up about a time in her life that was raped. Much like when she was younger she felt too passive to stop the man. At first she did not want to hurt the guy’s feelings because her passive nature made her not want to be rude. As things progressed and the man became more violent, Debra fought back for a brief moment but quickly withdrew when she saw how mad he got. Her timid nature forced her to lead the guy on so she would not be hurt more than she was already.

In comparison to the article written by Debra Anne Davis, I read another article written by Hayley Rose Horzepa titled, “Victim Blaming: An All-Too-Common Response to Sexual Assault.” In this article Hayley addresses the horrific event of an eleven year old girl being gang raped by nineteen young men. She talks about how the way society talked about the rape put blame on the victim. For example people say things like "She was dressed provocatively. She had a bad reputation. She should have known better than to put herself in that situation" to justify why a rape victim was raped. The way society feels about rape victims needs to change. Rather than being judgmental and focusing on the victim we should focus our energy on the culprits.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hayley-rose-horzepa/victim-blaming_b_847310.html