The Seducer and the Seduced: Who is to Blame?

The Illustrated Police News held a section in their Saturday, December 19, 1868; Issue 253 of their publication, called “Social Contrasts”. The column is an open poll or suggestion for the general public to decide upon certain topics. For Issue 253 of the newspaper, the Social Contrast topic was short and straight to the point. It asked, “The Seducer and the Seduced; on, who is to bear the blame?” The rest of the post explained that the illustration on the front page of the paper, was an example of the many, “terrible dramas” that occurs in Londoners’ lives. It tells that two young women purposely leapt off a bridge recently, and another newspaper reported on the story and made some interesting comments about it. This led the Illustrated Police News to ask themselves and the public, “who is to blame?” The publication came to the decision that the punishment and blame should be on the “seduced” person, as they state, “while the heartless betrayer, who has left his victim to the mercy of a cold, cruel world, escapes with no other punishment than that which he meets with from the pangs of an accusing conscience.”

The newspaper is basically stating that the seducer and the person who actually acted out the crime, is not the victim because in the end, the seducer will have to suffer with a guilty conscience and that is worse. It is interesting that the publication would use the term “blame,” which would be the unlikely term to use when talking about a victim, or the seduced. Yet, because the article is very short and is opinion based, it suggests that the victim led themselves to be in a situation that is bad in the first place, therefore they are to blame. This is a problem that has been occurring for many years, even decades, now, in which people, mostly victims, are being blamed for something that happened to them. This is also called “victim blaming” and victimizing the perpetrator. The social contrast is shown in the illustration, as a man and woman are walking on a bridge together and in the next frame, the man has gone over the bridge. The illustration is ambiguous with who is defined as the "seduced", however in a situation such as that, the woman would be blamed for what happened. It is an unfortunate contradiction that is represented, even so often in the present time.