Sexual Assault Advocate Training Manual - Texas Association ...

S E X U A L A S S A U L T A D V O C A T E T R A I N I N G M A N U A L
These are all choices in a rape situation:
• Running away or trying to run away
• Physical resistance, fighting back
• Yelling, screaming, blowing a whistle
• Talking assertively or aggressively
• Crying or pleading
• Conning
• Looking crazy or repulsive
The first four of these options are considered more effective than the last
three, but all of them have worked in some situations. Remember that using
more than one increases your chance of escape. It can be effective to combine
two or more strategies. For example, fighting and yelling at the same time, or
combining assertive talking with a con (e.g., saying loudly and firmly: "You had
better leave now. My brother is a karate expert and I was expecting him to be
here 10 minutes ago").
Elaboration on each of these options will help women understand better how
to use them and can give them more viable choices. Admittedly, those
strategies which are less likely to be effective appear to be the
easiest (for most women) to carry out. But:
cIf you are being subjected to a sexual assault, there is no easy way out.
You are likely to get hurt, emotionally or physically or both, no matter
what you do. It may seem that the easiest course of action is inaction,
doing nothing in the hope that he will only rape you quickly and leave.
It is important to understand that what may seem easiest at the time
will not, in the long run, be easy at all. A woman who resists an
attacker and is not raped will nevertheless experience some trauma
afterward, but it will be less severe than if she had not resisted. In
other words, choose less suffering for yourself.
cDeciding not to resist at all is also no guarantee a victim will not be
physically injured. While active resistance may mean that one will incur
minor physical injuries, more serious physical injuries are usually
intentionally inflicted by a rapist who wants to hurt his victim - and he
will do it anyhow, whether she resists or not, no matter what she does,
unless she can escape from him.
In the past, some rape prevention educators have made a mistake assuming
that women fear physical injury above all else. They have equated hurt with
physical injury and not with emotional damage, and then advised women
on getting out of a rape situation without getting hurt but only raped. The
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