Gang Date Rape: How to Protect Yourself

It’s Saturday night and you have been preparing for this day all week. Your hair is just right and your outfit couldn’t be cuter. You’ve spent extra time on your make-up and even more time texting your friends about how it was love at first sight between you and the cool older guy you met last weekend at the library. Since you have been working extra hard on the research paper that just so happens to call for more time at the library, your mom went to work and trusted that you will be home by nine o’clock. Preparation for this dream date could not have gone any better. It’s almost eight when you hear a car horn blow. You run to the car fighting the butterflies in your stomach hoping to see Mr. Perfect, but instead you are greeted with not only him, but a few of his friends, as well. Your instincts tell you that you should not get in, but you slide in the backseat anyway. What’s the difference? My friends and I do this all the time. While trying to convince yourself that you have made a good choice, Mr. Right turns to octopus hands all over you. His friends seem to be getting a thrill out of the scene. Before you all go to the movies, his friend has to make a quick stop at his apartment. It’s late already. You don’t want to be left alone in the car, so you go inside with him and the rest of his crew. This creepy feeling takes over you and upon entering the place with Mr. Perfect you soon realize you will not be seeing that movie after all…

This scenario actually happened to me my freshman year in college; however, more and more teenage girls are being confronted with the realization of gang date rape.

What is gang date rape?

Gang date rape is sexual assault in which the offenders “take turns.” It is usually sat up by one of the offenders who win the trust of the victim to carry out his plan of sexual assault. It is mainly staged as a date and is highly likely to be a form of initiation on the offenders’ part; a test of pride and manhood.