History Main / GoodVictimsBadVictims

[[cell]]response to rape

[[cell]]in-utero, transfusion

Note that, to an extent, this trope can be justified. A person who gets carpal tunnel syndrome from writing a Nobel prize winning novel is a bit different from someone who gets it playing WorldOfWarcraft is a bit different from someone who gets it by spending too much time whipping slaves. Where the UnfortunateImplications crop up is that most of the time, the moral gulf between the good victim and the bad victim is nowhere near that extreme.

[[cellnr]]'''Lyncanthropy '''
[[cell]]bitten
[[cell]]inherited, voluntary

A morality trope about the arbitrary distinctions writers make between certain sorts of victims. If a character in fiction has a problem or ailment or social situation, and the creators intend him to be sympathetic, the character will have acquired the problem in the most socially acceptable way. If the character isn't sympathetic, then he will have contracted the illness through "your own damn fault".

[[cell]]chaste woman

[[cell]]in-utero, transfusion

[[cell]]hazardous worker, accidental toxin exposure

[[cell]]response to rape

[[cell]]Sudden and absolutely unforeseeable disaster, DomesticAbuse, war

[[cell]]as a result of prescribed medication

[[cell]]in-utero, transfusion

[[cell]]bitten

[[cell]]accident, experiment

** Mostly because newer writers keep forcing [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical thinly-veiled social allegory]] into the X-Men series, whereas writers from other superhero comics are more preoccupied with creating entertaining storylines.

* ''AnitaBlake'': Most of the shapeshifters contracted lycanthropy from an attack by a were-whatever, making them the survivors of a vicious attack. Only a very few chose the life voluntarily.

* In the JamesBond novel ''{{Goldfinger}}'', Bond dislikes Pussy Galore's lesbianism until she tells him [[RapeAndSwitch she was abused]] by her CreepyUncle. So apparently (in the 1950s at least), lesbianism by choice was bad but lesbianism because of previous abuse by men was OK.

* The demon-allied [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] of ''{{Warcraft}}'' 1 and 2 are revealed to be a peaceful shamanistic race in the backstory to ''{{Warcraft}} 3'', as after the Horde's defeat, they lost their permanent rage. [[TheMessiah Thrall]], seeking to reunite them with their roots, allies with [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Grom Hellscream]] (one of the original chieftains of their homeworld). Grom ends up being repossesed by the demons, but reveals that (most of) the chieftains gave themselves to the corruption willingly. Thrall, who is understandably more than a little pissed to hear this, brings Grom back and kicks the ass of the Pit Lord responsible for the corruption.

** Mostly because newer writers keep forcing [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical thinly-veiled social allegory]] into the X-Men series, whereas other writers are more preoccupied with writing entertaining storylines.

** Mostly because newer writers keep forcing [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPoilitical thinly-veiled social allegory]] into the X-Men series, whereas other writers are more preoccupied with writing entertaining storylines.

* The ChaoticEvil demon-allied [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] of ''{{Warcraft}}'' 1 and 2 are revealed to be a peaceful shamanistic race in the backstory to ''{{Warcraft}} 3'', as after the Horde's defeat, they lost their permanent rage. [[TheMessiah Thrall]], seeking to reunite them with their roots, allies with [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Grom Hellscream]] (one of the original chieftains of their homeworld). Grom ends up being repossesed by the demons, but reveals that (most of) the chieftains gave themselves to the corruption willingly. Thrall, who is understandably more than a little pissed to hear this, brings Grom back and kicks the ass of the Pit Lord responsible for the corruption.

* The ChaoticEvil demon-allied [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] of ''{{Warcraft}}'' 1 and 2 are revealed to be a peaceful shamanistic race in the backstory to ''{{Warcraft}} 3'', as after the Horde's defeat, they lost their permanent rage. [[TheMessiah Thrall]], seeking to reunite them with their roots, allies with [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Grom Hellscream]] (one of the original chieftains of their homeworld). Grom ends up being repossesed by the demons, but reveals that (most of) the chieftains gave themselves to the corruption willingly. Thrall, who is understandably [[{{Understatement}} more than a little pissed]] to hear this, brings Grom back and kicks the ass of the Pit Lord responsible for the corruption.

* ''WildCards'' has Aces and Jokers — they have the same virus, but their reception by the public varies based on which manifestation of it they got. And they're not written necessarily sympathetically if they're pretty aces, or hatefully if they're deformed jokers either.

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* ''WildCards'' has Aces and Jokers — they have the same virus, but their reception by the public varies based on which manifestation of it they got. And they're not written necessarily sympathetically if they're pretty aces, or hatefully if they're deformed jokers either.

* Spider-Man is often feared or hated due to the smear compaigns of J.J. Jameson who frequently calls Spider-Man a "mutant" in print, which underscores the point.

*** Can't, uh, you also be ''born'' with HIV? Or are you only a carrier if that happens?

** [[UnfortunateImplications Are you implying that lesbianism is a choice?]]
*** Probably not, but Fleming (and his upbringing) almost certainly were.

Note that, to an extent, this trope can be justified. A person who gets carpal tunnel syndrome from playing WorldOfWarcraft is a bit different from someone who gets it by spending too much time whipping slaves. Where the UnfortunateImplications crop up is that most of the time, the moral gulf between the good victim and the bad victim is nowhere near that extreme.

** {UnfortunateImplications|Are you implying that lesbianism is a choice?}

** [[UnfortunateImplications|Are you implying that lesbianism is a choice?]]

[[cell]]homosexual sex, shared drug needles