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Bystander's Role In Preventing Victims Of Sexual Assault Prevention

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Numerous rape attacks could have been avoided if any one of the countless bystanders had taken action to help the victim, so what stopped them from interfering? Many believers would say “it is not their problem.” But what if we were the victim to this attack, then is it our problem and would we want a bystander to intervene? Of course we would, any actual victim of rape can tell us how they wish someone would’ve stopped the attack. Or the bystanders decide to not interfere from the fear of becoming a victim to the attack, or just simply getting hurt themselves. Yes, we as bystanders have to care for our personal safety but we as individuals with social responsibly should also care about the safety of the victim as well. Everyone assumes that …show more content…

But why do we just ignore the situation and wait for the authorities to arrive not knowing exactly when they are going arrive. When we see a potential sexual assault there are many actions one can take. Such as calling 911, notifying security, or even trying to scare the attacker off in a safe way like playing the sounds of police sirens or walking by in a big group to show a power in numbers. As Daniel Rappaport, the Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator at American University, stated “We all have our individual obstacles to intervening – it is not about overcoming all of those obstacles.” In my opinion, our individual obstacles shouldn’t prevent us from intervening as the victim to the attack in is more need of a helping hand. Daniel Rappaport provides basic tools that he teaches his students and we as bystanders could use as well. The tools fall under three basic categories: “Directly intervening, delegating an intervention, or creating a distraction.” Directly intervening is seen as the most used and possibly the most effective way to prevent the situation from occurring. For example, in the 2009 Richmond high school gang rape case there was ten individuals who assaulted the young sophomore girl during the homecoming dance and ten individuals who watched the assault and never called police. Because of those bystanders not interfering in the attack and not calling the cops the sixteen-year-old girl was assaulted for over two and half hours then left for dead. If any of the bystanders would’ve have taken action to the scene, then the victim could’ve experience a far less abusive attack. How could those individuals directly

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