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A Look Inside the Terrible Manual Cops Use to Teach 'Rape Prevention'
Rape Aggression Defense, or R.A.D., as it brands itself, is one of the most widely offered women's self-defense programs in the country. R.A.D. was developed by a police officer, and is ubiquitous at colleges and universities; it's taught primarily by law enforcement personnel, making it a pretty accurate reflection of the way cops think about preventing sexual assault.
Universities across the country have been eating this program up since 1989, and no wonder: R.A.D. is a perfect slice of patriarchal fear-cake, studded with nuggets of bad advice and thickly frosted with condescension.
Take, for example, these "Risk Reduction Strategies":
HOME: Try "casing" your own home, at night and/or during the day. Attempt to gain access when locked and "secure." If possible, invite a security survey from your local Police Department.
Drapes and Shades: Draw the drapes and pull the shades. If the drapes are thin or worn, you may want to consider investing in a heavier fabric to prevent silhouetting.
Shrubs and Bushes: Try to keep the bushes and shrubs trimmed for consistent shape, which will make it easier to detect motion near windows.
*snip*
In other words, the nation's highest-profile self-defense program for women states up front that it's ineffective in 60 to 80 percent of assault situations. Katy Mattingly, who trained as a R.A.D. instructor, confirmed this. R.A.D. personnel, she says, stressed that "it was important to tell our students the techniques would not work if they knew the attacker. They were designed only to prevent abduction by a single, unarmed, stranger." When Mattingly asked why the R.A.D. curriculum didn't include verbal techniques or other methods to disrupt acquaintance assault, she was warned that R.A.D. "would not certify anyone who wanted to add or remove any techniques from the program." Mattingly was so disturbed by the program's focus that she declined to attend her final R.A.D. instructor certification session.
I appreciate the authors' attempt to make language come alive here, but, really, "trough"? The term conjures themes of purity and self-restraint that are—to put it charitably—outdated concepts in the public discourse about sexual assault. I wonder if anyone has told the authors that. I wonder if the authors listened.
When it's not cheerfully itemizing all the chores women must complete in order to avoid assault/stay pure/win the Grand Prize for Most Rules Followed, the manual has an endearing habit of nitpicking any risk reduction strategies students might have already thought of on their own. Keychains and pepper spray are defensive options, the manual admits, but you really need to take the R.A.D. Aerosol Defense Options or R.A.D. Keychain Defense Options training in order to use them properly. (Yes, those are real training sessions offered by R.A.D.)
Even something as simple as running away from an attacker requires extensive cost-benefit analysis when viewed through R.A.D.'s jaundiced eye. "Is running an option for you?" the authors ask skeptically. They're not talking about mobility impairment (which a more inclusive, empowerment-based self defense program would address explicitly). No, they're worried that women will "become exhausted in a short distance and be completely incapable of any physical defense." They recommend "aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week, with at least 30-minute sessions," which seems like an awful lot of practice for a skill that most of us mastered quite early. Sure, lots of us could stand to get more exercise (with a partner! Always with a partner!), but that doesn't mean we can't—or should be discouraged from trying to—run away from an attacker.
*snip*
much more at link
http://jezebel.com/a-look-inside-the-terrible-manual-cops-use-to-teach-rap-1687694067?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Universities across the country have been eating this program up since 1989, and no wonder: R.A.D. is a perfect slice of patriarchal fear-cake, studded with nuggets of bad advice and thickly frosted with condescension.
Take, for example, these "Risk Reduction Strategies":
HOME: Try "casing" your own home, at night and/or during the day. Attempt to gain access when locked and "secure." If possible, invite a security survey from your local Police Department.
Drapes and Shades: Draw the drapes and pull the shades. If the drapes are thin or worn, you may want to consider investing in a heavier fabric to prevent silhouetting.
Shrubs and Bushes: Try to keep the bushes and shrubs trimmed for consistent shape, which will make it easier to detect motion near windows.
*snip*
In other words, the nation's highest-profile self-defense program for women states up front that it's ineffective in 60 to 80 percent of assault situations. Katy Mattingly, who trained as a R.A.D. instructor, confirmed this. R.A.D. personnel, she says, stressed that "it was important to tell our students the techniques would not work if they knew the attacker. They were designed only to prevent abduction by a single, unarmed, stranger." When Mattingly asked why the R.A.D. curriculum didn't include verbal techniques or other methods to disrupt acquaintance assault, she was warned that R.A.D. "would not certify anyone who wanted to add or remove any techniques from the program." Mattingly was so disturbed by the program's focus that she declined to attend her final R.A.D. instructor certification session.
I appreciate the authors' attempt to make language come alive here, but, really, "trough"? The term conjures themes of purity and self-restraint that are—to put it charitably—outdated concepts in the public discourse about sexual assault. I wonder if anyone has told the authors that. I wonder if the authors listened.
When it's not cheerfully itemizing all the chores women must complete in order to avoid assault/stay pure/win the Grand Prize for Most Rules Followed, the manual has an endearing habit of nitpicking any risk reduction strategies students might have already thought of on their own. Keychains and pepper spray are defensive options, the manual admits, but you really need to take the R.A.D. Aerosol Defense Options or R.A.D. Keychain Defense Options training in order to use them properly. (Yes, those are real training sessions offered by R.A.D.)
Even something as simple as running away from an attacker requires extensive cost-benefit analysis when viewed through R.A.D.'s jaundiced eye. "Is running an option for you?" the authors ask skeptically. They're not talking about mobility impairment (which a more inclusive, empowerment-based self defense program would address explicitly). No, they're worried that women will "become exhausted in a short distance and be completely incapable of any physical defense." They recommend "aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week, with at least 30-minute sessions," which seems like an awful lot of practice for a skill that most of us mastered quite early. Sure, lots of us could stand to get more exercise (with a partner! Always with a partner!), but that doesn't mean we can't—or should be discouraged from trying to—run away from an attacker.
*snip*
much more at link
http://jezebel.com/a-look-inside-the-terrible-manual-cops-use-to-teach-rap-1687694067?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
