Speaker Addresses Sexual Assault Myths, Anxieties

Feminist Students United! invited Sabrina Garcia, the domestic violence and sexual assault coordinator for the Chapel Hill Police Department, to share her professional experience in dealing with sexual assaults and field students' questions.

"The main reason we organized this event was because of the rapes that happened at the beginning of the year," said Feminist Students United! Co-chairwoman Heather Yandow, referring to a string of sexual assaults in Chapel Hill and Carrboro that occurred in the last two months.

"We hope we can give assault information for people who have questions about incidents and about what they can do in the future."

Garcia, who has dealt with sexual assault cases for 23 years, said her work has given her a candid look at the offender's mind-set. "For six years I worked clinically with sex offenders," she said. "They taught me how they set up crimes and how they rationalize."

Garcia said she is especially alarmed about a recent rash of e-mails that instruct people on self-defense by offering insight into a rapist's mentality. "It's giving concerning instructions about safety for people."

She said the e-mails paint a stereotypical picture of a rapist. If a sexual offender does not fit this stereotype, victims might not feel comfortable reporting the crime.

Responding to a question about whether a victim should fight back when attacked, Garcia said it is always best for someone to follow their instincts.

"If you fight, some will take that as permission to batter you and kill you," she said. "If you lay there, for some rapists, it's permission for them to take you, but you survive. For other rapists, you fight them and they flee."

But she said it is best to trust your initial reaction. "The whole premise is you have to make a snap decision, a lifesaving decision in a split second."

And despite the variance in the manner in which offenders attack, Garcia said they always look for two things -- accessibility and vulnerability.

"What puts us at risk is our behavior," she said. "There's many times when I have seen, because of youth, people walking by themselves at 3 o'clock in the morning, drunk. It scares me."

Once a sexual assault happens, however, Garcia said it is important for the victim to realize that it is not his or her fault.

She said we live in a "victim-blaming" society that holds victims accountable for dressing a certain way or not taking enough precautions. "The most insidious part of this violence is that many victims blame themselves for the crime."

Garcia said it's also necessary to realize that familiar people can be rapists too. "People want to believe that people you know, love or have some association with won't hurt you," Garcia said. "Stranger rapes are easier to believe and are more likely to be reported."

And she said people need to realize that sexual assault is not a distant crime.

"We want to believe it doesn't happen to me -- I'm a good person," Garcia said. "But we are buying into those myths. I don't know of any of us who at some point in our lives hasn't been vulnerable."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.