A key theme in Catch and Kill is the way in which guilt and shame weigh heavily on those most affected by sexual abuse while not affecting those who perpetrate the abuse. The survivors speak to Farrow and describe their feeling that they should have done more to avert the abuse, that they should have fought back harder, or that they should have spoken up sooner. These people have often been bullied, intimidated, abused, and harassed to the point where they are made to feel at fault for having suffered abuse. Even the survivors who are aware of the absurd nature of this predicament cannot completely get rid of the guilt and the shame they feel for their actions. They confess to Farrow that they feel they should have done more, even though they know how powerful and intimidating men like Weinstein can be. Farrow’s role is to illustrate the complicated institutional nature of the abuse and to show the survivors that the guilt and shame they feel is constructed and used to silence them.

Farrow also has to deal with his own guilt and shame. His sister is a character in the book. and she has accused their father of sexually abusing her when she was a young girl.