Education is the Key to Prevention

 

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*Prevention begins with education*

Practicing common sense, learning self defense and avoiding dangerous areas at night is only a small part of rape prevention. Focusing only on the obligations of the victim places the burden solely on them. In over 70% of sexual assaults the perpetrator is someone the victim knows. "In order to have a better understanding of the aftermath of criminal victimization, we must begin to accept the reality that crime is sometimes random, senseless and can happen to anyone regardless of the precautions that are taken to prevent being victimized. We must also understand that a victim's life is turned upside down when he or she becomes a victim of crime." National Center for Victims of Crime

The term an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is appropriate in this situation. The prevention needs to be taken by all areas of society in promoting non aggressive behavior in children. They are our most precious resource and our future.

Sexual assaults happen to all types of people including disabled people, the elderly and men. It's not a crime of strangers. Rape is a crime of power and control.

Preventing rape starts with teaching young people to respect other people, women, girls and personal boundaries. Please scroll down for self defense information.

For a full listing please see this chart on page 45 of Acquaintance Rape of College Students, from the US Dept. Of Justice. More effective responses which were listed above the following were: General assault education of male students, female students, faculty and police staff.

 

Public education campaign ideas:

The pain of rape is often invisible. Rape is not about the obvious physical wounds- it's about psychological damage to the actual brain via ptsd. It's more complex than being hit, it's a violation of the right to control your body and actions.

Education about the effects of rape. Often nobody thinks about the frequently life long complications of sexual assault. Some of those are PTSD, eating disorders, self injury, OCD, and RTS.

The images of rapists. They frequently ARE the boy next door. This has to become more widely accepted.

End Abuse

http://endabuse.org/

End Abuse Campaigns: Reaching Men
Coaching Boys into Men
Boys are swamped with influences outside of the home – from friends, the neighborhood, television, the internet, music, the movies… everything they see around them. They hear all kinds of messages about what it means to “be a man” – that they have to be tough and in control. There are numerous conflicting and some harmful messages being given to boys about what constitutes “being a man” in a relationship. So teach boys early, and teach them often, that there is no place for violence in a relationship.

http://endabuse.org/programs/printable/display.php3?DocID=9902

Audio for endabuse - Train boys not to abuse women.

 

Coaching Boys Into Men Play book

http://www.coaches-corner.org/

"Athletics has always been at the forefront of social change. Playing sports has helped our country break down barriers of segregation and racism; it brings the world together during times of war and provide inspiration and optimism when the public needs it most. Today, you are being called upon to address a major societal problem: violence against women."

Speech exerpt:

"COACH: I have one more important point to make. You all know the team rules and what I expect of you on the field and in the classroom. What I want to talk to you about now is a matter of personal conduct. I know you all spend a lot of time thinking about girls. Yeah, believe it or not, I was your age once. And athletes have been known to get their fair share of attention from women. Well, there's a right way and a wrong way to treat women. I want strong men on this team. And a man does not prove his strength by catcalling or harassing girls, spreading stories about them, bragging about what he may or may not have done on some date or using derogatory terms to refer to women. And a man does not prove his strength by making a woman feel threatened or imposing himself physically on a woman in any way. And a strong man does not stand by and watch or listen while somebody else treats a woman in these ways, even if the person doing it is a friend and teammate. A man proves his strength by treating women with honor and respect and does everything he can to make sure that others do so as well."

 

Founding Fathers

http://www.founding-fathers.org/

"I am a "founding father" because I want to make a difference for the next generation by creating a legacy of non-violence that will - eventually - change the world."

 

Healthy dating - Program on sexual assault education in middle and high schools

http://www.healthy-dating.com/

 

Research:

Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue

"Sexual Violence is a serious public health problem with extensive short- and long-term health consequences. Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue identifies concepts and strategies that may be used as a foundation for planning, implementing, and evaluating sexual violence prevention activities."

 

The Men's Program: A Peer Education Guide to Rape Prevention, Third Edition
Author(s) - John D Foubert

 

Acquaintance Rape of College Students, COPS, March 2002, NCJ 195868. (61 pages- full version).

See page 45 for a chart of prevention activities and their effectiveness. "The table below summarizes the responses to acquaintance rape of college students, the mechanism by which they are intended to work, the conditions under which they ought to work best, and some factors you should consider before implementing a particular response."


"Rape is the most common violent crime on American
college campuses today.1 This guide describes the problem
of acquaintance rape of college students, addressing its
scope, causes and contributing factors; methods for
analyzing it on a particular campus; tested responses; and
measures for assessing response effectiveness. With this
information, police and public safety officers can more
effectively prevent the problem.

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series is very much a
collaborative effort. While each guide has a primary
author, other project team members, COPS Office staff
and anonymous peer reviewers contributed to each guide."

 

Lesson plans on sexual assault education

http://www.ibiblio.org/rcip//bks.html#lp

 

Tough Guise: Violence, Media & the Crisis in Masculinity

http://www.transformcommunities.org/

 

Prevention of sexual and physical assault toward women: A program for male athletes

"This article presents a sexual and physical violence prevention program designed for college student athletes. The program has been in place for approximately 10 years and has demonstrated several uniquely positive results. Implications for prevention programs designed for high-risk groups and athletes in particular are presented as are the components and philosophy felt necessary for such programs."

Self Defense and Safe Practices

 

Verbal Self-Defense Against Rape, Sexual Assault

http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Abuse/lisk/

verbal_self_defense.htm

"Our voice is frequently our first line of defense in a confrontation. Plus, at least 78% of rapes are committed by somebody we know -- coworkers, neighbors, relatives, boyfriends, husbands. For acquaintance rape, setting clear boundaries is particularly important. A good, loud NO is a valuable weapon.

Sometimes it's not easy to say NO. It may take practice, but it's worth it."

 

Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) Course

http://www.sexualassaultresources.org/rad.html

Find a program near you

" The Rape Aggression Defense System is a program of realistic self-defense tactics and techniques for women. The R.A.D. System is a comprehensive, women-only course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and risk avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training. R.A.D. is not a Martial Arts program. "

 

RAPE PREVENTION - from Missouri Police Department

http://www.hendersonville-pd.org/PreventionTips/

RapePreventionTips.html

"Accept the fact that you are a potential rape victim. Many women operate under the illusion "it will never happen to me." It may."

 

Arming Women Against Rape & Endangerment

http://www.aware.org/

 

The antistalking site

http://www.antistalking.com/

This is a site for anyone interested in the crime of stalking. It is meant to be not only a resource for stalking victims, but for law enforcement, mental health professionals, researchers, educators, legislators and security personnel.

 

Tips

Do:

Be aggressive, scream, intimidate the attacker, hit vulnerable areas like the groin, low kicks are good.

If someone is sitting on top of you here is how to get up: Don't try to push UP because their weight is working against you. Twist your hips/body to the side to throw them off balance and THEN get up.

If someone has a grip on your arm: There is a tendon on the top of the fore-arm that lines up with the thumb. If you bring your fist down hard on it the tendon reacts and causes the fingers to open. You might want to practise that because you have to hit the right spot, hard.

Don't:

High kicks might let them catch your leg and hold on, don't run after them, it's better not to wrestle if they are stronger.

 

Products: Stunning Ring Pepper Spray, Mace Pepper Gel , Safety Technology.

 

Journal articles

Anderson, L., Whiston, S. (2005). SEXUAL ASSAULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A META-ANALYTIC EXAMINATION OF THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29 (4), p374-388, 15p. link

Abstract

Meta-analyses of the effectiveness of college sexual assault education programs on seven outcome measure categories were conducted using 69 studies that involved 102 treatment interventions and 18,172 participants. Five of the outcome categories had significant average effect sizes (i.e., rape attitudes, rape-related attitudes, rape knowledge, behavioral intent, and incidence of sexual assault), while the outcome areas of rape empathy and rape awareness behaviors did not have average effect sizes that differed from zero. A significant finding of this study is that longer interventions are more effective than brief interventions in altering both rape attitudes and rape-related attitudes. Moderator analyses also suggest that the content of programming, type of presenter, gender of the audience, and type of audience may also be associated with greater program effectiveness. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

 

Gidyez, Christine A; McNamara, John R; Edwards, Katie M (2006). Women's Risk Perception and Sexual Victimization: A Review of the Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 11, (5), pp. 441 - 456.

 

Quote:

"Research findings suggest that sexual assault prevention programs must decrease women's optimism about low personal risk while helping them to respond to particular risks and threats once they are identified. Given the higher risk for acquaintance rape compared with stranger rape, women's alertness for risks in interactions with persons they know must be primary. Researchers generally agree that women are aware that sexual assaults occur, but they believe they are at a lower risk for sexual assault than their peers...Several studies have found that risk recognition is related to victimization status; however, other studies have found no such relationship and suggest that victimization status is related to women's behavioral responses to a potentially threatening situation, rather than their ability to recognize risk...."


 

Resources to research these subjects:

Lesson plans - Online lesson plans for awareness raising and class presentations. (Includes visual aids)

Journals and articles

Google scholar or Findarticles

Search the NCJRS Abstracts Database

Finding books at the library

Online Libraries on sexual assault

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Stalking

Domestic violence

 

 

 

 

Resources to research this subject:

Journals and articles

Search the NCJRS Abstracts Database

Google scholar or Findarticles

Finding books at the library

Online Libraries on sexual assault

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Search terms: rape crisis

Related links: Victim blame

References:

Macdonalds, J. (2004). World Book Encyclopedia. United States of America: World Book Inc.

rape. (2006). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 2, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9376486

Smith, M. D. (2004). Encyclopedia of Rape. USA: Greenwood Press.

Sedney, M., "rape (crime)." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006 <http://gme.grolier.com> (February 1, 2006).

 

 

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