Slut-shaming video sparks discussion about victim blaming

Natural hair guru and virtual comedian Franchesca Ramsey recently shared her personal experiences with date rape in response to a video blaming sluts for sleazy one-night stands.

She tells the story of how she lost her virginity at the age of 18 after being raped on her birthday. After she blacked out, her friend told her story against her will to her co-workers, who mocked Ramsey at work. The women constantly called her a “slut” and blamed her for the incident.

Ramsey calls on society to stop The blame should be placed on the victims and men should pay attention to the pain of women.

“Can we stop telling girls not to get raped and instead tell men to stop raping and exploiting women?” she asks in the video.

The ideology of victim blaming and “slut-shaming” seems to be propagated in modern media. The New York Times recently published an article that focused on a young woman’s appearance as the reason why she was raped by 20 men. The girl in the speculative story was only 11 years old.

“It shouldn’t just be a woman’s responsibility to look after other women,” Ramsey said. “There’s no reason a man can’t get into a bar.”

Ramsey received both positive and negative reviews for sharing her poignant story. She says the reactions, good and bad, show how big the issue of slut-shaming is.

“I appreciate the words of encouragement and support from everyone,” reads a caption accompanying the video. “I even appreciate those of you leaving shitty comments and proving how necessary this conversation is.”