Victim-blaming comes in many forms, and is generally subtle, and unconscious. It can apply to cases of rape and sexual assault, but also to more mundane crimes, like a person who gets mugged and is then scolded for not being more vigilant. Any time someone defaults to questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime, they are participating, to some degree, in the culture of victim-blaming.
Victim blaming is such a normative and everyday part of our thinking about gender-based violence that it often goes unnoticed and unchallenged.
We talk about gender-based violence without talking about misogyny, contempt and hatred directed towards women, sexism, gender stereotypes and sexual entitlement, all important elements of the violence. And, with this, we fail to ask why the shame and stigma associated with this violence are borne by women and not men.