Social Work; Blaming the victim(critical thinking) - Essay Example

Rather than take the actions of the other seriously, and pursue a thorough investigation, the school chose to blame the victim by saying shewas equally responsible because she responded to their email messages. The one factor that indicated she contributed, the email messages, was the only thing taken into account. The school didn’t address the other girls’ repeated bullying, defamation of character and continual attempts to hinder her progress.The other way the school blamed Danielle was by saying they asked her to distance herself from the girls.

This implies that she is responsible for the abuse, or at least could have prevented it, if she had taken more of an effort to avoid them. It places the responsibility on the victim to avoid the perpetrator. By telling her parents they had intervened it attempts to deflect the attention from the original crime or situation to hold the victim, Danielle, responsible.Victim blaming in this instance was subtle, but still existent. By holding Danielle responsible, implying she “deserved” or instigated the bullying by sending emails as well, the school blamed her for what happened.

Because they believe the bullying wouldn’t happen without a “reason”, they believe the victim must have somehow provoked the actions.By blaming Danielle, it also allows the school to escape the blame from their own lack of action. They are able to side step the fact that they didn’t take strong, appropriate, immediate action against the bullies. It deflects the attention from the school, and the actual bullies, to Danielle, the victim.The memo was an indirect way of blaming the victim.

Although at no point does it directly say Danielle was responsible, it insinuates it by implying she could have taken action by blocking the emails or following their other suggestions. It also diverts from the intensity of the bullying by avoiding, through exclusion, that there were other forms of bullying than just emails.The emails were only a small part of the actual bullying that occurred. The school didn’t address ways to counter slanderous actions like keeping her from making the team, bullying her in person, and spreading rumors.

The memo they sent out only addressed a small portion of the bullying.Even if the emails were the main concern, the memo still holds the victim accountable by saying they shouldn’t’ respond to bullying—that by countering a bully’s actions, the victim is responsible. By not taking stronger action and by blaming the victim, the school should be held responsible for her private school tuition. They failed her and other students by not taking the allegations seriously and investigating the situation fully.

They are liable for her schooling costs because they failed to provide sufficient schooling in a safe environment. Passing the blame to the victim helped the school to justify their actions and lack of preventative measures.At the least, even if the school doesn’t pay her private tuition, they should have to make sure Danielle, and other students, are safe from bullying by taking stronger, more aggressive action against such occurrences. Immediate action, with a zero tolerance procedure would help to stop others from bullying in the future.

Instead of doing this, the school chose to hold Danielle, the victim, responsible for the actions of her bullies. Their lack of action was as much an indicator of their blaming as anything else.