"Blame the Abuser not the Victim."

I was thinking on my drive home tonight of the slogan that so many responsible "dangerous breed" dog owners repeat to themselves - "Blame the Deed... not the breed." So often, people want to place the blame of what happens on an animal that does not hold the human moral code
in their heads.

This blaming the breed in such statements like: "All Pit Bulls are dangerous with their locking jaws!" or "Dobermans get to a certain age their brains swell and they become aggressive." or "Rottweilers are inherently evil and our dangerous to our communities." (etc) completely ignores the human component to dog related bites and maulings. Often times the dogs are also victims of poor handling or training, no socialization, neglect, or downright abuse.

This is also a mindset that prevails in the covering and prosecution of rapes. So often rape victims are "blamed" for what happens to them: "Oh she wore a short mini skirt and a tank top, she was just asking for trouble." "She got drunk! IF she didn't want something to happen then she shouldn't have put herself at risk!" "Well, she said 'yes' before! How was I supposed to know that her 'no' was anything but playing around?" (this was something like the excuse
> my ex-fiance used when I confronted him about my rapes 10 years ago. He also said that since i was his fiance then i didn't have the right to say no.)

So many excuses... that instead of blaming the abuser of the victim, we blame the victim of the crime instead. We've all heard the slogan that says - "No means no" - but so often I hear guys in my games or on chat channels make jokes about it. "No means no until you can convince them to say yes!" Or they talk about how they will make a girl change her mind about sex, when she has flat out rejected them. (I'm going through something like this right now, which may be the reason for this chain of thought.)

I think the rape victim community needs a new slogan that like the dangerous breed community takes the blame off the victims. I've posted my idea in the subject line, which doesn't rhyme as well, nor is it as catchy as the "blame the deed not the breed" but it does the job well.

If you read this... can you think of another one? There's no prizes involved but I'm curious to see what the people who read this journal can come up with.