Society & Politics

Humanizing an attacker and its effect on the victim

Humanizing an attacker and its effect on the victim



Prompted by the devastating loss of Maren Sanchez.


When the media depicts an attacker—whether they be a rapist or murderer—as a wholesome person who "had a bright future" or "was a great person", they have no idea what kind of impact it has on the victim and their family.
By humanizing any sort of attacker, people often favor the likeable qualities of them, pushing the negative qualities to the back of their mind. They assure themselves that there's no way that this person could have done something so terrible.
Maren Sanchez, a sixteen-year-old girl, was fatally stabbed the morning of her junior prom simply because she rejected an invitation to the prom. Many news articles mentioned how "great of a kid" her attacker is, drawing the focus to him rather than his victim.
This also occurs in many cases of rape. The media often addresses how the rapists "had a bright future ahead of them", but never mention the adverse effects their actions have on their victim(s)—especially when the rapist was an athlete.
By humanizing the attackers, the media is drawing more attention to them instead of their victims, often showing them in a positive light.
As a victim myself, I often feel that, because my attacker is a "great kid" and "has a bright future ahead of him", people disregard my assault, choosing to portray him in a positive way because "he could never do something like that". Some even go as far as saying I was not assaulted, but merely regretted sleeping with him and cried rape. Their responses, however, may have been different if he was not an attractive, athletic social butterfly.
When the media humanizes an attacker, it often results in people disregarding their actions because they possess certain qualities, which can be quite destructive to the road to recovery for the victim and their family.

Humanizing an attacker and its effect on the victim
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