Читать книгу Approaching Victimology as social science for Human rights a Spanish perspective онлайн

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Image 12: On the notion of the ideal victim by Christie (1986)

Harm

Ideal victim

Suffering

Traumatic Event

Victim

Victim typologies

Victimhood

Victimisation

Victimiser

Victimism (objective and subjective dimensions)

Vulnerability

On ideal victims, according to Christie (1986):

Wives are not “ideal victims.” Not yet. But they are approaching that status. They are more ideal today than yesterday. The explanation of this development is probably as simple as it is sad: the development has taken place because we are now affluent enough, and not because we have improved morally, not because we are becoming more kind. We are now so affluent that parties can divorce – leave. Wives do not have to take it anymore. With changed material conditions, women find it less “natural” to receive the beating or domestic raping. They are also closer to a position where they can claim that their definition of the situation is the valid one. They can make the political claim of being real victims. As ideal as the old ladies. Or as the virgins walking home from caring for the sick (...) The more females attain an independent status, the more useful it is for them to claim victim-status, and the more they are listened to. But at the same time: the more they gain independence, materially, the less credibility is given to any claim of victim-status as a result of weakness or lack of possibilities for self-protection. I am well aware that my reasoning here is almost like discussing the dangers of too much rain in the Sahara. Equal rights for females are equally far away. When I nevertheless bring up the point, I do it out of pure theoretical concerns. The reasoning brings to the surface another important element in being an ideal victim: she (or sometimes he) must be strong enough to be listened to, or dare to talk. But she (he) must at the very same time be weak enough not to become a threat to other important interests. A minimum of strength is a precondition to being listened to, but sufficient strength to threaten others would not be a good base for creating the type of general and public sympathy that is associated with the status of being a victim (pp. 20-21).