What to Do If You are Sexually Assaulted
by Statistics indicate that one in every four persons will experience an act of sexual violence against them in their lifetime. Crime of any type is traumatizing to its victims but violations of this nature are extremely traumatic to victims. If you or someone you know experiences an act of sexual violence, there is help.
Every 2 minutes, in the United States a sexual assault occurs resulting in establishing 720 victims each day. Current statistics indicate that 1 in every 4 females and 1 in every 10 males will be victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault takes on many forms from visual, verbal- to actual physical assault. All of these variants are frightening, traumatic and bare with them both short and long term consequences for the victim. It is important to remember if you are a victim of an assault that nothing you did warranted what happened to you. You are not at fault or to blame. The perpetrator made the choice to harm you; their decision is what is flawed and wrong. There is nothing you could have done to change the perpetrators mind. Only they are to blame for what happened to you-you are not responsible for their actions.
If you’ve have just been assaulted the first thing you need to do is ensure your safety. Get away from the perpetrator as quickly as possible- in some cases you may have to leave. Some offenders will try to remain with you, they may want to prevent you from contacting the police or they may be attempting to re-build or establish some form of relationship with you acting as if what they did was not wrong, or it was a mistake, they may even behave apologetically. The first issue at hand is survival. If the offender leaves lock all doors and windows immediately, however, if they do not want to leave and are not threatening you, you may have to act as if nothing has happened and watch for an opportunity to get out. If they remain there with you and are threatening you complying may be your only venue for self-preservation. If you can, even if the offender is present, without them noticing contact 911. You may have to limit the call, so explain to the operator you have just been sexually assaulted, the offender is still present, request police- allow just enough time for the operator to locate where the call is originating from.
If the offender leaves, or you were able to leave where the assault occurred, go to your nearest emergency room. Do not go somewhere and take a shower first, although that will be your greatest desire. You will need to preserve as much evidence as you can, and much of that will be on your persons. Most hospitals have SANE nurses (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners) who are specially trained in sexual assault crisis response, medical care and evidence collection. There, in the safety of the hospital have the nurse contact law enforcement. If you are afraid that reporting the incident to the police is too much for you to handle at this time, or you are afraid the offender may come back because they threatened to harm you if you told, or are leery of the Criminal Justice process do not be afraid to express your concerns with the nurses who are helping you. Remember you are in shock right now, you may not want to go through the processes or procedures at this time but a police report will be necessary should you change your mind in the future to seek justice.
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