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For my interview I decided to interview my best friend (Samrina) whom is a POC. Samrina as a POC has experienced a lot of stereotypes against her and has struggled with blaming herself. I only happen to know this because we’ve been friends for 13 years! So I’ve been through it all with her. I figured she was the perfect person for me to interview because of her personal experience and the fact she was completely comfortable discussing it.

Samrina sees small stereotypes as assumptions like “someone smelling bad because they don’t shower” or “someone being considered stupid because they failed a math test.” Samrina does not consider the type of stereotypes she’s experienced to be small. She feels they have “deeply affected her” and in her opinion (what she considers to be a small stereotype) does not leave as big of a lasting impact. I asked her if she felt at fault for the stereotypes she’s been victim to. She said, “I did used to feel extremely at fault, I constantly wished I had different parents that way I wouldn’t be brown. I felt dirty like it was shameful that I couldn’t wash the color off of me.” It hurt me deeply to hear her say those words. She mentioned one specific stereotype that she’s been on the receiving end of, one time a guy said to her “I’d like you if you weren’t brown, cause you know brown people smell.” That stereotype has deeply affected her. Now in college she says she “lacks confidence” and “doesn’t feel like she belongs.” Samrina even told me when she leaves her house she sprays perfume on herself multiple times to make sure she doesn’t smell “brown.”

Samrina believes victim blaming is seen most prevalent in instances of rape and sexual assault. She said, “Heavy on the word seen though, it’s just where it’s most commonly heard about, there are other many common instances of victim blaming that aren’t as ‘seen’. “ Samrina sees her experiences of stereotypes heavily intertwined with her personal victim blaming. She believes that “only if we start to realize the impact your average assumption with no evidence has on a person will the connection end.” Samrina blames herself for what she’s gone through. She told me she wonders if she put herself in those situations or if they could’ve been avoidable if she just thought more. She says, “The connection lies between the normalization of both.”

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Throughout my sophomore year of high school I experienced an immense amount of depression. I failed the majority of my classes, and tried to take my life twice. My mother was extremely upset that I failed my classes, she didn’t understand what I was going through and blamed me. In my mom’s eyes she handled her depression very differently and assumed that because she can do work when she’s experiencing depression so can I. That was NOT the case for me. I struggled from a strong lack of motivation and lacked a desire to live, as far as I was concerned I wasn’t going to live to have those poor grades affect me. I was a victim of my mom’s stereotype. My mother’s assumption is what I would consider a “small” stereotype because it’s what she assumes is right with no evidence. I’d tell my friends what she said, and at first they’d agree with me and empathize with me. However, as time moved on they started to agree. They started blaming me for my actions/emotions because they started to agree with my mom, I am no longer friends with those people. In that situation they all started to believe my mom’s assumption which led to the blame being stuck on me. They didn’t take into account the chemical imbalance that I had, all they had were assumptions.

(228 Words)

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To explore my critical question I read a few articles each on either the topic of victim blaming or stereotypes. Along with reading articles I also interviewed my bestfriend who has a lot of experience regarding both topics.

I learned quite a bit from my research, specifically from one article. One being that victim blaming is a normal occurrence, especially in “smaller” situations. You see victim blaming when someone gets their wallet stolen and then the individual is blamed because why would they keep their wallet in their back pocket? Then comes the stereotype of that person is irresponsible. In another article you see how heavily victim blaming and stereotypes interconnect with sexual assault crimes. The way sexual assault victims are blamed for what happened to them because of what they were wearing leading to them being called something along the lines of “wh*re.” That is an example of a BIG stereotype. In so many instances of rape you see the woman being blamed due to the assumption that they were “asking for it.”

In my interview with my friend she mentioned how daily assumptions of people lead to ALWAYS blaming the victim. She said “the psychological aspect of it stems from always wanting to give someone the ‘benefit of doubt’, possibly.” What I took from that was that possibly we believe everyone deserves the benefit of doubt. I mean look at the saying “innocent until proven guilty.” Just in that one common stereotype you see the blame being placed on victims.

I also learned that the interconnection between victim blaming and stereotypes comes from their similarities. Stereotypes are the creation of information based off nothing. Victim blaming is when you hold the victim accountable for everything that happened to them. Both of these “topics” stem from a lack of evidence. To help answer my critical question, from all of my research I’ve found that stereotypes are normalized on a daily basis. Whether it’s assuming someone is at fault for their wallet being stolen because they’re irresponsible or someone being blamed for their sexual assault because they’re a wh*re.

Your average assumption with no evidence is a stereotype, if we normalize those we normalize the “big” ones. Simply, all stereotypes lead to victim blaming but the “small” ones normalize and encourage it.

(382 words)

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This is my original art where I show the increase of victim blaming when we hear people's assumptions about us. I am not very artistically talented so I sprung for digital art.. I tried to express the victim blaming through the mirror I drew. I see victim blaming very prevalent in personal thoughts, especially when you are the actual victim and are being influenced through others thoughts.