History Main / GoodVictimsBadVictims

||'''Abortion''' ||The mother got pregnant against her will, was a rape victim, or is faced with a life-threatening complication. ||The mother got pregnant due to casual sex or infidelity, or does not have a life-threatening complication. (Sometimes not even then.)

||'''Abortion''' ||The mother got pregnant against her will, was a rape victim, or is faced with a life-threatening complication. ||The mother got pregnant due to casual sex or infidelity, or does not have a life-threatening complication.

* ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' has Louise tell Thelma that no one will believe that she was almost raped because she was seen dancing with her attacker by the entire bar[[spoiler: probably because she was blamed for her own rape]].

While the specifics vary, there are common themes. For "good" victims, their suffering is often due to circumstances beyond the their control, in spite of their upright moral character and behavior, or inflicted upon them by someone else--in other words, they did nothing to deserve it. Inversely, "bad" victims ''did'' do something to [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming deserve what they got]]--it's the result of a willful decision, a moral failing, or [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic justice]] for some misdeed they committed.

||'''Rape ''' ||The victim was a chaste or otherwise "good" women (especially if she's [[BeautifulSexualAssaultVictim beautiful]]), a child, or elderly. ||The victim was a [[ReallyGetsAround promiscuous]] or otherwise "bad" woman, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale a man]], [[PrisonRape a convicted criminal]], or [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil a rapist himself]]. ||

||'''Cancer ''' ||They were exposed to carcinogens in their workplace or without their knowledge. They are a [[LittlestCancerPatient child]], or a parent with young children. ||They drink alcohol, smoke, do drugs, are overweight, or have an unhealthy diet/lifestyle. They have reproductive cancer and they're childless. They have skin cancer and they go tanning.
||'''Abortion ''' ||The mother got pregnant against her will, was a rape victim, or is faced with a life-threatening complication. ||The mother got pregnant due to casual sex or infidelity, or does not have a life-threatening complication.
||'''Natural or Public Disaster ''' ||The disaster was completely unforeseen by the victims. It was primarily caused or worsened by government or corporate negligence and corruption. ||The disaster was foreseen and willfully ignored by the victims, or was a known risk for the area. It was caused or worsened by the victims. It happened in a distant (usually Third World) country.
||'''Home- lessness ''' ||They were forced out by a war or natural disaster, got evicted, or are fleeing DomesticAbuse. ||Their house was beyond their means to afford. They suffered from [[CrazyHomelessPeople mental illness]] or drug addiction.
||'''Addicted to Drugs ''' ||They became addicted to legal drugs, or tried to self-medicate a health problem. They were pressured or [[ForcedAddiction forced]] to start by someone else. ||They got addicted to illegal drugs through recreational use.
||'''Becom- ing a social outcast''' ||They live in a {{Dystopia}}n society, or were shunned for being [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation intelligent or talented]]. ||They come from [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong any society short of a]] {{Dystopia}}. They are [[LonersAreFreaks lonely for a good reason]].
||'''Vampire, Were- wolf''' ||They became bitten, infected, or cursed unwittingly or against their will. ||They were [[VoluntaryVampireVictim voluntarily turned]].

||'''Super- powers ''' ||They gained their powers unintentionally, usually through a FreakLabAccident. ||They deliberately sought to give themselves powers, or are from an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong.

||'''Being Over- weight''' ||They suffer from an endocrine problem or physical disability that stops them from dieting or exercising. They want to lose weight and are actively trying. ||They eat junk food or don't like exercise. They suffer from weight-related health problems. They previously tried dieting and gave up. They don't want lose weight, or are FatAndProud.

Note that a character being victimized in one of the ways listed above doesn't mean that they are automatically a "good" or "bad" victim. It also goes without saying that not all differences between good and bad victimhood are purely arbitrary and meaningless--consider the difference between someone who breaks their leg helping rescue a puppy and someone who breaks their leg while committing a felony, for instance. It simply reflects how the audience perceives them, making this less of a ''pre''scriptive trope and more of a ''de''scriptive trope. Furthermore, it doesn't have to be as binary as proclaiming "good" victims completely innocent and "bad" victims as fully deserving; it can be more subtle, like a "good" victim being PlayedForDrama and a "bad" victim being PlayedForLaughs.

* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|and the Planeteers}}'' episode that dealt with HIV. While the teenager who contracted it got it through a blood transfusion, his doctor also mentions how shared needles and unprotected sex can also be how the disease is contracted. The episode still calls out people for spreading misinformation on HIV-positive people in general, indicating that all of them deserve the same understanding.

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* ''ComicBook/{{Blade}}'': The main character is a heroic half-vampire who contracted it not in the normal way (being bitten) but in-utero when his pregnant mother was bitten. Victims of bites are uniformly evil, no matter how good they were in life.
* {{Mutants}} in the ''ComicBook/XMen'' mythos are feared and despised by having natural powers, yet people like Franchise/SpiderMan and Mr. Fantastic are loved by the public, even though the only difference is that they got their powers in accidents. While nearly all heroes in the Marvel Universe have been hunted by the authorities at one point or another (notably The Hulk and Spider-Man), only mutants are (nearly) always despised simply for being mutants. Making matters worse, all superpowers manifested by humans have the same root cause: genetic experiments performed on the ancestors of humanity by aliens. Mutants are simply the subset of humans for whom manifesting powers is a matter of time. [[https://journeyintoawesome.com/2013/09/13/in-defense-of-the-mutant-oppression-metaphor-part-1/ This]] [[https://journeyintoawesome.com/2013/09/19/in-defense-of-the-mutant-oppression-metaphor-part-2/ four]] [[https://journeyintoawesome.com/2013/09/25/in-defense-of-the-mutant-oppression-metaphor-part-3/ part]] [[https://journeyintoawesome.com/2013/10/04/in-defense-of-the-mutant-oppression-metaphor-part-4/ essay]] goes into more detail about the reasons why humans hate Mutants.

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||'''Being Over- weight''' ||They suffer from an endocrine problem or physical disability that stops them from dieting or exercising. They want to lose weight and are actively trying. ||They eat junk food or don't like exercise. They suffer from weight-related health problems. They previously tried dieting and gave up. They don't want lose weight (or are proud of their size).

* DiscussedTrope on ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' season 13 when Zoe is raped by members of the hockey team. Throughout the show, Zoe has been portrayed as a boy-crazy AlphaBitch and at the trial, the defense tries to portray her in that way.

||'''Addicted to Drugs ''' ||They became addicted to legal drugs, or tried to self-medicate a health problem. They were pressured or forced to start by someone else. ||They got addicted to illegal drugs through recreational use.

||'''Financial Hardship''' ||They were laid off for fired without cause. They're a single parent. They were bankrupted by [[HealthcareMotivation medical bills]] or an unforeseen disaster. ||They were incompetent or otherwise fired for cause. They're a {{NEET}} or {{Lazy Bum}} who doesn't want to work. They were financially irresponsible, didn't save money, or bought frivolous luxuries. ||

A morality trope about the often 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 [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming "your own damn fault".]] Compare and contrast LoserProtagonist.

||'''Situation''' || '''Good''' || '''Bad''' ||
||'''Rape ''' ||Chaste or otherwise "good" woman, child, elderly ||[[ReallyGetsAround promiscuous]] or otherwise "bad" woman, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale man]], [[PrisonRape convicted criminal]], [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil already raped someone]] ||
||'''Unemployment''' ||Laid off, displaced, single mother ||[[{{NEET}} Never hired]], [[LazyBum laziness]], incompetence, fired for something of their own fault ||
||'''AIDS ''' ||In-utero, transfusion, rape victim, needle stick injury or other occupational exposure ||Sex (especially if it was ''gay'' sex), shared drug needles, rapist ||
||'''Cancer ''' ||Hazardous worker, accidental toxin exposure, [[LittlestCancerPatient child victims]] ||Smoker, heavy drinker, overweight or obese, poor diet, doesn't exercise, never had children (reproductive cancers), goes tanning (skin cancer)
||'''Abortion ''' ||Against her will, when the pregnancy is due to sexual abuse or rape, when the pregnancy can be fatal to both her and the fetus ||Response to consensual/casual sex or adultery, response to the news that there's something wrong with the fetus but not life threatening
||'''Disaster ''' ||Absolutely unforeseen, at least by the general populace, new, not result of victim action, government negligence ||Foreseen by everyone but willingly ignored, known hazard, victims caused or contributed, third world country
||'''Homelessness ''' ||Sudden and absolutely unforeseeable disaster, DomesticAbuse, war ||Personal financial problems/unemployment, [[CrazyHomelessPeople mental illness]], drug addiction
||'''Drug Addiction ''' ||As a result of prescribed medication, peer pressure ||As a result of illegal drugs used recreationally
||'''Becoming a social outcast''' ||Society itself is a {{Dystopia}}, one can prove extreme talent ||[[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Disagreement with anything short of a]] {{Dystopia}}, [[LonersAreFreaks being a loner]], ValuesDissonance
||'''Vampirism ''' ||In-utero, transfusion, involuntarily bitten ||Bitten, [[VoluntaryVampireVictim voluntary]]
||'''Lycanthropy ''' ||Involuntarily bitten, inherited, cursed ||voluntary
||'''Superpowers ''' ||Accident, inherited (sometimes), experiment ||Voluntary, inherited (sometimes)
||'''Murder''' ||[[ChildrenAreInnocent Innocent child]], woman murdered by husband/boyfriend, TokenWholesome ||AssholeVictim, DisposableSexWorker, DisposableVagrant ||
||'''Spouse Cheats''' ||Okay with it, ArrangedMarriage, loveless marriage, IncompatibleOrientation, cheated on spouse is incapable of having sex||STI or unwanted pregnancy results, cheated on spouse is HollywoodHomely, cheated on spouse first
||'''Financial Hardship''' ||[[HealthcareMotivation Medical bills]], unforseen disaster ||Loans, credit cards, "treats themselves" even just occasionally, unemployment
||'''Divorce''' ||DomesticAbuse, amicable separation, spouse cheated, couple tried to "work it out" with marriage counseling, last resort, [[DivorceIsTemporary comedy of remarriage]] ||Spouse simply "got tired of" the other, DivorceAssetsConflict, WickedStepmother comes into the picture
||'''Weight Problem''' ||Endocrine problems, can't exercise due to disability or illness, attempts to solve it by dieting ||doesn't like working out, eats junk food even just occasionally or to be polite, woman, has health problems related to weight, BigEater, not ashamed of how they look

Note that for some people this trope can be justified. They consider a person who gets carpal tunnel syndrome from writing a Nobel prize winning novel is a bit different from someone who gets it playing ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is a bit different from someone who gets it by spending too much time whipping slaves. Regardless of how they got it, they are still victims. Whether you have sympathy for them is another matter.

See also GoodFlawsBadFlaws. Compare the varying media standards between Hitmen and Assassins (both in ProfessionalKiller). Also see the difference between HighClassCallGirl and DisposableSexWorker.

No RealLife examples, please, as they are just an invitation to an Administrivia/EditWar.

* ''Series/{{Brookside}}'' explores this both with teenage pregnancy and bullying when {{OverprotectiveDad}} Marty Murray is initially sympathetic to his underage daughter being pregnant when he assumes she must have been raped, but angry when she tells him the sex was consensual. He also supports his son when he thinks he's being bullied by boys, but has a harder time being sympathetic when he finds out the bullies are girls. The last episode also ended with the cold-blooded murder of a violent drug dealer with most of the characters deciding that he deserved it. The show seems to leave it up to the audience to decide if they agree with this sentiment.

* In ''The Remaking'' by Clay McLeod Chapman, town outcast Ella mysteriously conceives a baby after arriving at her debutante ball in an obviously injured and disheveled state. The narrator openly admits that people surmised she'd been raped, but no one really cared since she was so unpopular.

||'''Rape ''' ||Chaste or otherwise "good" woman, child, elderly ||[[ReallyGetsAround promiscuous]] or otherwise "bad" woman, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale man]], [[PrisonRape convicted criminal]], [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil already raped someone]] ||