Well, once you’ve been murdered, it’s hard to kill you again.
I was thinking it was in response to matt_mcl’s post, asserting that most crimes are committed by relatives, or close associates.
Most homicides are as well.
I’m easily confused. Hush.
Dr. Drew Pinsky used to talk about this all the time on his Loveline radio show. He says that previous victimhood causes people to relate to others in a way that makes them more likely to be victims again.
I am very skeptical of this assertion. I have not seen any research that would back up Pinsky’s claim. It may be unfair to say, as I have never heard his show, but the assertion strikes me as “good radio” but poor scholarship.
I have no expertise myself, but I do think he has good credentials besides being a radio host. Being an addiction medicine specialist, I think he has seen this pattern of behavior in a lot of people. Whether this is simply his clinical observation or whether he has seen research that backs up the claim, I don’t know.
Understood. As I said, I’ve never heard his show, so my assessment is both uninformed and subjective. But still, I’ve seen no research in the area that would support his claim. His statements may well be based on clinical observation.
CA
I bungled what he actually says, though, I think, by not giving enough detail. I believe that his observation is that it seems as though a lot of adult rape victims were molestation victims as children…that it was being a victim in formative years that makes them behave differently from others in social interactions. I don’t think it applies to someone who was raped for the first time as an adult.
Do you mean that they’re more “appealing” (for lack of a better word) to victimizers, who see them (through body language, etc.) as unasssertive/unconfident? Or is it that they way they relate to anyone makes people in general more likely to victimize them?
Right. I think being in the “target demographic” probably has a big effect on who is a crime victim.
I believe the “statistically more likely” part, but I’m skeptical of the “no common denominator” part. I suspect what’s going on is that rape, like other violent crime, is not randomly distributed (so to speak) throughout the population. Certain risk factors make your chance of being raped go up, and being victimized one time doesn’t make the risk factors go away, so you’re still at an increased risk. I’m no expert, but I suspect that in the case of rape, these risk factors would include things like:
[ol]
[li]You live with an abusive husband or boyfriend.[/li][li]You live in a high-crime neighborhood where violent crime, including rape, is more common than in other areas.[/li][li]You have a substance abuse problem, which causes you to spend time around unsavory people, and which also causes you to sometimes be in a condition where you can’t defend yourself very well.[/li][/ol]
None of this is intended to “blame the victim” – it’s just that certain things make your life more dangerous. As others have said, I think you’d find a similar phenomenon if you looked at robbery or assault victims.
Keep in mind that this is just second hand reporting of Dr. Drew’s opinion but I believe it was the former - They would tend to attract victimizers not cause ‘normal’ people to victimize them. Another part of his theory was that abuse victims would be attracted to victimizers.
Dr Drew is a board certified physician and addiction medicine specialist, last I heard still worked as a doctor in addition to his television and radio work. “He’s a Reeeaaal Doctor, not just a Looooove Doctor” Obviously even professionals disagree about these things but he certainly has some qualifications.
Adam Carolla (Dr. Drews former partner) was recently recalling his loveline days and mentioned calls where woman said they where raped even though there where other people in the next room and just a flimsy door in between, and one call where a woman said she was raped even though several of her friends where sleeping in the same room.
This is how I understand it, too.
Also, a rapist will assess his risk like anyone else. A petite or frail woman is just less likely to put up much of a fight. If one rapist thinks that, another might as well.
Makes sense. I only ask because on another board, someone posted once posted something about how often victims will “force” a seemingly normal person to exhibit that kind of behavior because it’s what they’re used to. It was a strange way of putting it, as I had often understood it to be the other way (that is, victims are often attracted to victimizers/victimizers know the signs of a potential victim).
Law of Attraction provides an answer. Someone who is afraid of rape, someone who feels like a victim, someone who feels powerless, etc. ~ all of these mindsets would make someone a match to being raped in the first place.
Then, once it has happened once the person feels that way even more unless they are consciously making decisions to look at things differently. The more they feel like a victim the more they will appear that way to those who would take advantage.
Using ones mind to perceive things differently can change that ‘victim mentality’ and make the liklihood of repeat less likely.
Things like “I was feeling powerless at that point in my life because (fill in the blank) but now I have learned how to (fill in the blank) and I feel more in control now. That experience does not have to define me. It was only (fill in the blank … 15 minutes of my life, an hour of my life, 48 hours of my life, etc.) and I control how much airtime I give it in the future. I can let those minutes negatively impact my future or not. It is MY CHOICE. I no longer have the victim vibe. I have come into an understanding of my own personal power and I don’t look the same. I no longer look like an easy target.”
I was raped twice before the age of 18 and married two abusive husbands in quick succession in my 20’s.
I can look back and see the mindset and how different I am today.
Now I travel the world, often solo, and never encounter scarey situations. I am confident and secure and taking the steps necessary to get here was worth the effort.
I have also been able to impart much of my confidence to my two daughters.
I remember an interview once with a child molestor. He said he could tell quite quickly from the way a child behaved and carried themselves, whether a certain child was likely to be a compliant victim or someone who would go running to an adult to complain about his behaviour.
I assume since he was convicted, he wasn’t 100% right all the time.
But - picking up on subtle social cues is a talent some have in abundance and some are basically oblivious to.
[moderating]
Welcome to the Straight Dope, Joyous_LadyJ.
Since you’re new, I’d like to point out a few bits of board etiquette.
First, please don’t color all of the text in your posts to make them stand out (I’ve taken the blue coding out of your message).
Second, when a thread has been dormant for several years – such as this one, which hadn’t had a response since 2007 – please consider whether you’re really adding anything new to the old discussion or whether you’d be better off starting a new thread. We call old threads that have been resurrected “zombies,” and we try to discourage them because the original participants may not still be around to respond to you.
I look forward to seeing you more around the Straight Dope!
[/moderating]
Teen Spirit
If they engage in high-risk behaviors in the context of a high-risk lifestyle, yes.
Eg. drug use, drunkenness, promiscuity, prostitution.
Have you never heard of zombies?