Female Activist's New Book Release Sparks Online Community

Image taken from the website of VictimFocus, an independent business, founded by Dr Jessica Taylor providing research, consultancy, writing and speaking in forensic psychology, feminism and mental health.

To mark the release of her new book, Why Women Are Blamed For Everything, psychologist and activist, Dr Jessica Taylor, has taken to Twitter to encourage female victims around the world to share their experiences using the hashtag #iwasblamed.

The hashtag has proven to be a successful marketing strategy as it quickly began trending, reaching number 3 on the UK trends list at one point, and people have continued to tweet about the book and its message. However, these words contribute in the favour of a much more important campaign - against victim blaming.

The idea behind the hashtag is to prove the unfairness and injustice that women clearly face often in cases of male violence despite people saying that it is uncommon or simply a story told by feminists.

Dr Jessica Taylor quickly grew an online community of therapeutic venting, emotional support and subtle education. There were women to tell stories of their own experiences of being blamed, some simply sharing support, and for all of those people there are hundreds more finding the hashtag for the first time like you and me, experiencing the effect of raised awareness.

Stories shared range from cases that went to court to experiences that have gone untold until now to smaller incidents on the streets that have simply left a woman feeling scared or panicked. In all cases, the campaign enables them to show that they should not be blamed for such incidents due to their clothes or their manner, to name a few examples.

Dr Jessica Taylor herself has spoken on social media about being hacked and relentlessly trolled which just goes to show the scope of the internets capabilities. The outcome of her hashtag shows how much change can be made when the powers of the internet are used for good.

Taylor urges everyone to be careful when reading the tweets which use the hashtag as many of them can be upsetting.