Victim Blaming in the Context of Non-Consensual Transfer of Intimate Pictures from the Perspective of the Documentary Method

Introduction The term victim blaming refers to the situation in which victims of violence are themselves held responsible for their victimization whereby it is assumed, based on personal or contextual characteristics, that they have provided an incentive for violence. Victim blaming is especially widespread in the field of sexual violence and has gender connotations. Specific patterns of victim blaming are explored in the following with a focus on sexual boundary violations via digital media amongst adolescent students.Objectives The aim of the study is to analyze the orientations of students and teachers towards the non-consensual transmission of intimate images in order to differentiate processes of victim blaming from a gender-reflective perspective.Methods The following analyses are based on twelve group discussions with 46 students and ten group discussions with 34 teachers in northern Germany, which were analyzed using the documentary method according to Bohnsack ( Bohnsack et al. 2007 ). The sampling was carried out according to predefined criteria and was terminated according to the principle of saturation.Results Three orientation patterns can be distinguished in the group discussions: implicit, non-reflective and explicit victim blaming. What these patterns have in common is that they place the responsibility for violations of boundaries by means of digital media exclusively in the hands of the girls concerned, who are portrayed as weak in character, dependent on acceptance from others, and thoughtless. Neither those who forward the images non-consensually nor the bystanders play a role in the respondents' orientations. This applies equally to students and teachers. Accordingly, options are seen primarily in abstinent behavior, which represents a restrictive sexual morality that makes those who are affected by sexual boundary violations (co-)responsible for their experiences,.Conclusion The article shows the widely shared attribution of responsibility to the disadvantage of girls. Pedagogical abstinence messages undermine a self-determined approach to intimate images by addressing girls and thus implicitly encourage teachers not to take pedagogical responsibility for victims of sexual violence.