system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why rape victims in Saudi Arabia get sentenced to lashings.

Is lashing and rape perceived differently by the culture in Saudi Arabia and consequently not as big deal as in the west? Do most women there feel like other women who are raped deserve to be whipped? Do most men agree that a woman who is raped should be whipped as punishment?

From a western viewpoint whipping the victim of rape seems unforgivable. I realize this is a narrow world view so ELI5 the cultural dynamics that allow for lashing!
gpt
She wasn't lashed for having been raped. She was lashed for sexual immorality, which she claimed wasn't consensual (rape). Women aren't considered trustworthy to provide testimony in Saudi Arabia compared to men, so the man simply denied the charge and the woman was essentially admitting in court to a crime herself. Her lawyer protested so loudly that the court went back and *increased* the punishment of the woman, apparently out of spite.

In general the testimony of women in the Middle East zone of the world hasn't been considered at all worthwhile historically. This lends a certain comedic quality to some legends such as when Jesus was found risen from the dead by one or a group of women. When they spread the word the sense conveyed in context is "And he rose from the dead (as conveyed by idiot, untrustworthy sources)!" In this sense many accounts are nearly satire.