Health & Sex

Sexual Assault and Rape

Preventing Sexual Assault

For prevention, take care at all times to identify people and situations that may lead to sexual assault. The chances of being a victim can be lowered by following these practices:

• Train in self-defense.
  
• Use common sense in choosing the people you associate with.
  
• Avoid potentially dangerous situations when outside or in your house (answering the door) and when interacting with strangers anywhere.
  
• Avoid intimate or solo contact with people that you do not know well.
  
• If a person is making unwelcome sexual advances, no matter how minor, take action in the earliest stages and make every effort to disassociate from that person.
  
• Use self-control when drinking alcohol.
  
• At social events, be careful about what you consume and who has access to your drinks. 
  
• Avoid extreme intoxication in which you lose control, especially when you are not in a protected environment.
  
• Adopt an approach in dating and getting to know people that involves postponing being alone together, intimacy, and sexual interaction until you feel you have gotten to know the person very well
  
• When intimacy is initiated between consenting parties, make clear early on your limitations (for example, you don't want intercourse).
  
• Think about how you would react in an assault situation in advance and use that plan early and without reservation.

For More Information About Sexual Assault

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
635-B Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20003
National Sexual Assault Hotline (800) 656-HOPE (4673)

Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma
6160 Cornerstone Court East
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 527-1860

Web Links

MedlinePlus, Rape 

National Women's Health Information Center, Sexual Assault

The National Center for Victims of Crime, Dating Violence Resource Center

American Academy of Family Physicians, Rape: What to Do if You're Raped