Self-Blame

Self-blaming is a common behavior among victims. As a coping technique and to make sense of the assault, victims make attributions for why the assault occurred. There are two types of self-blame: behavioral and characterological self-blame. Behavioral self-blame reflects the victim’s belief that his or her own behavior led to the assault. Characterological self-blame focuses not on the behavior but on the victim’s personality or character as the cause of assault. Regarding his type of self-blame, victims feel there is something inherently wrong with them, causing them to deserve to be assaulted.

Holcomb, Rid of My Disgrace, p. 41.