A South Florida man has been arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license. Monica Jimenez said her underarms were burned, blistered and blackened after having a laser hair removal treatment at an office in Kendall last year.
You know what the MOST disturbing thing about this news story is for me?
All of the comments from people at the first link about how she deserved it. They imply she was at fault because she was shallow and vain for getting a cosmetic medical procedure in the first place.
It’s bigger than just this one set of commenters. Reading things like this just reminds me how ashamed I am of our species on a whole. What next? Blame the rape victim because she was “vain” enough to dress up and wear sexy makeup?
Blaming the victim seems to be the last trend in this lovely uncharted territory called the internet.
People calling it a ridiculous cosmetic procedure don’t know how awful it is to feel uncomfortable in your own skin everyday. There’s no arguing with people like that for me. It’s either ignoring them or delivering a swift punch to the nose.
Edit: luckily for most, I’m a fairly calm person not too keen on delivering swift punches to the face.
PRC86: Well I’m not so calm. I definitely think those people deserve a few punches. Maybe even enough of a beating to cause some aesthetic disfigurement, then when they try to get corrective plastic surgery or laser for their scars, we can call them shallow and vain and tell them they deserve to get burned by the treatment.
I’ve read that victim blaming is a subconscious psychological defense tactic.
The fact that you can (in this case) walk into a Doctor’s/Beautician’s office and be scarred for life by some unqualified charlatan posing as a professional scares people silly. It could just as easily happen to them.
When they say the fault is that of the victim, something the victim did, they are also (not explicitly) saying that that action is something they wouldn’t do. This makes them feel safer in the world, that the bad stuff that befalls others won’t befall them.
A lot of people have a remarkable lack of self-awareness. They are unlikely to know why they feel the need to victim-blame.
This doesn’t stop me wanting to join the queue to punch them, however.