Wow, this is gonna be a long post. Kudos to anyone who makes it all the way through!
A lot of this information seems to come from a popular e-mail warning that makes the cyber rounds every so often.
While some of it is good advice, such as #16, but some of it is just plain false.
1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. Theyare most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or otherhairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after awoman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.
Absolutely false, rapists look for a victim that is accessible to them and in a situation (unguarded, quiet/dark streets) that they can control.
2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for
womenwho's clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing.
Again, false. Overly complicated clothes won't protect a potential victim any better than overalls or a skirt would.
3) They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they
are off guardand canbe easily overpowered.
This has validity too it. Headphones are even worse because at least with a cell phone you could tell the other person to call the police.
4) The time of day men are most likely to attack and rape a woman is in theearly morning, between 5 and 8:30 a.m.
Early morning is one of the times one is
least likely to be raped. The 1994 U.S. Justice Department's Sex Offenses and Offenders: An Analysis of Data on Rape and Sexual Assault states that "About two thirds of rapes/sexual assaults were found to occur during the 12 hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.". So basically, when it's dark out.
5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked at is grocerystore parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages. Number threeis public restrooms.
While parking lots, especially empty ones, aren't the safest of places and one should be careful -- this is also false.
From the same Department of Justice report,
most rape victims (60%+) are raped in their house or the house of someone they know. The reason for this is the sad fact that most victims were attacked by someone they knew.
6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman andquickly move her to a second location where they don't
have to worry about getting caught.
This brings up an important point -- one of the things that annoy me about movie and television is this common scenario: Woman is accosted by someone with a weapon and he tells her to "get in the car" she complies. That is the absolutely worst thing you could ever do. If there was a possibility that the attacker would your hurt on a street or in a public place then he will
definitely attack and probably kill you when he has you alone. By whatever means possible, a victim should not allow themselves to be transported from one place to another.
7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 yearsentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.
This is where it contradicts itself. What happen to all those rapists carrying scissors? Aren't those possible weapons?
The stats of rapists who use weapons is higher -- usually from 10% to 15%. The majority don't and this probably has something to do with the fact that as I mentioned most rapists were someone the victim knew and trusted -- they rely on coercion not just force.
Taking a self-defense class is great step towards becoming more empowered and even more prepared should the worse case scenario happen and you are attacked. There are even forms of self-defense that can help you defend yourself if your attacker has a weapon, like
Krav Maga , which was developed by the Israeli military and is used in many Law Enforcement training classes.
8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after youisn't worth it because it will be time consuming.
While all cases differ and sometimes not fighting is the better choice (the main goal is always to stay alive) this is generally true. Especially in cases of acquaintance rape.
9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or othersimilar objects that can be used from a distance, in their
hands. Keys arenota deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to usethem
as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it
All of these objects can be a great help but they can all be used against you as well. The only thing a person should rely on in a situation like this is their wits.
Rape prevention while an important (thank you
Roo for bringing it up) can be a touchy one for the reasons
LabRat mentioned. Much of the responsibility seems to focus on the woman to prevent the attack but not the man. If we were to follow the errant belief that most rapists are some crazy guy hiding in the bushes waiting to strike this would make sense. Unfortunately, most rapists are just ordinary men. You see them everyday, go to school with them, work with them, talk to them you may even be friends with them. Just as we need to teach women that they should prevent and fight off these attacks there needs equal emphasis put on men on how to hear the word "No." I think this
page and the next sums up my feelings on this.
There is this incredible book that deals with the prevention of violence, some of you may have heard of it already because it's pretty famous, it's called
The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker. This books talks about how fear is a survival gift and we can rely on it to help us get out of violent situations. the author, DeBecker, works with federal agencies to find ways to asses violent threats.
I love this book, I've recommended it to everyone I know -- male and female. I think this book can and has saved lives and I would recommend everyone who has stopped by this thread (because you're obviously interested in this topic) to read it.