Victim Blaming : Women’s Clothing Causes Sexual Harassment at Barangay 178 Camarin Caloocan City

Vol.4, No.1

Abstract

Sexual harassment is, above all, a manifestation of power relations; women are much more
likely to be victims of sexual harassment precisely because they, more often than men, lack
power, are in more vulnerable and insecure positions, lack self-confidence, or have been
socialized to suffer in silence.

From this study, the researchers found out that the usual factor that a women can blame
because of their clothes are the women who likes to wear clothes that they are comfortable
and they dont care what other people say in terms of precipitation, and as to thier lifestyle
there were three most answered factor for being a party goer that makes them prone to be
sexually harassed, Walk unaccompanied in high-crime neighborhood while wearing skimpy
clothes can make them a target for criminals and maniacs, and women living in a bad part of
the city where there are many strangers and bad people that could lead to the victimization of
women, and the most answered factor in terms of deviant behavior was because the more
frequently a woman ventures into bad neighborhood where sexual crime is common, the
greater the risk of victimization, and at last in terms of their routine activities the most
answered was from the communities that does not have much police presence by not creating
guardianship makes the higher risk of victimization. All of those factors that affected the
women that the most answered the respondents were fear of being judged, women feeling
embarrassed for being blamed because of what they wear, and being humiliated by some
people for wearing revealing clothes.

Based on the results, the respondents mostly referred to what actions may be taken to lessen
this case got the majority of three proposed measures: frequent barangay rotation in each
area, conducting seminars or programs teaching women empowerment, teaching how to
avoid and teaching how to self-defense and lastly, barangay health center should have
counseling for the victims to manage their mental health.