Health Services

HOW DO SURVIVORS OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT REACT ?

“Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused.” Freda Adler

Less than 20% of sexual assaults committed against college students are ever reported to any authority.  When survivors tell someone, it is most often a peer. 

Students fail to report sexual assaults for a number of reasons:

• They often fail to perceive themselves as victims of a crime.  They may blame themselves for having been in the situation. The assailant may apologize or convince the victim they share the responsibility for the incident, although this is never true.
• They may feel the incident is too “private” or too minor: that nothing can or will be done.
• Reporting an incident makes it real; students may erroneously see it as documentation of poor judgment or their failure to protect themselves.
• Educational campaigns frequently focus on stranger rapes, or on the responsibility of the victim to avoid risk without stressing the perpetrator’s responsibility for their  behavior, blaming the victim
• Students may not be aware of their rights related to requesting support services, reporting or adjudicating the assault, and may fear a loss of confidentiality or retaliation.

People respond to a crisis like a sexual assault in many different ways. Their behavior is a result of their personality, strengths, weaknesses, life experiences, and expectations. What a victim says or how they look is often not an accurate reflection of the level of trauma they have experienced.   Victims may feel:

• Anxious –confused, unable to focus, shivering, giggling, crying, hyperventiliating – breathing rapidly and feeling they will suffocate
• Powerless – unsure of their ability to make decisions, control any aspect of their lives
• Emotional shock – unable to respond. They may seem calm, distant, numb, silent.
• Embarrassed, shamed – blaming themselves, unwilling to tell anyone, wanting to wash, change, put the event behind them and move on.
• Fear – afraid they have an STD, afraid to go out, afraid to be alone, afraid it will happen again.
• Anger – wanting revenge or retribution, yelling, crying. Anger is often hidden and directed at themselves in the form of depression; directed at others; or at an event unrelated to the assault
• Denial – attempting to convince themselves and their friends nothing significant happened, “I’m fine, I don’t need to do anything about this”
• Hopeless – believing they will never be able to recover from this event; no one can help them; life will never be worth living. Victims who feel hopeless may be at risk of suicide and are in need of professional intervention.

Physical complaints may include:

• Pain, nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, malaise
• Eating problems, eating disorders
• Self-mutilation – cutting, burning, or otherwise hurting oneself
• Sexual dysfunction – lack of interest or pleasure in sexual activities
• Hyper-alertness, jumpiness, insomnia