The Attitudes of Social Work Trainees to Victim Blaming with Special Reference to Rape Cases

Abstract

Simply because she is a female the average Indian woman is likely to bevariously a victim of feticide, infanticide, malnourishment, dowry, child
marriage, maternal mortality, domestic servitude, prostitution, rape, honorkillings and/or domestic violence. The stereo types of perception for the
rape victims which are highly prevalent in a society like India prevent therehabilitation of the victim back into society. Social workers are a part of
the multi-disciplinary team which works in a scenario both to preventinstances of rape and at the same time is responsible for the effective
rehabilitation of the victims back into society. However, the prejudicedmindset of the social worker will affect the rehab services which are being
provided to the victims and also to the perpetrators. It hence becomesmandatory to analyse social life to understand the prevalence of rape myth
acceptance and victim blaming attitudes which are prevalent among socialworkers. This study compares the prevalence of rape myth acceptance and
victim-blaming attitudes among male and female social work trainees. Itwas revealed that the female respondents have a slightly more negative
attitude towards the victims as compared to the male respondents. Thefact however remains that both male and female respondents were victim
blaming and had rape myth acceptance attitudes. This in turn points to theprevalence of poor quality professional social services which adversely affect
the rehabilitation of the rape victims