Jackson students get lesson on how to avoid assault

Sometimes dating can be hazardous.

Members of the Jackson High School Health Careers Club learned something about that last week from Leasa Stone, a counselor with the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence. Stone presented ways to avoid situations that could lead to sexual assault. NASV is an advocacy center for people who have been sexually assaulted.

On a yearly average, one in four women will be raped, Stone said. The same number applies to children. One in every six to eight men will be raped, usually by another man, and generally after being surreptitiously given a date rape drug.

"Very few men report being assaulted," Stone said. "Last year in a two-month period two men came in after they had taken a date rape drug."

Only about 10 percent of assaults against women are reported, Stone said.

In the 10 county area NASV serves, Stone said, over 250 cases were reported, the youngest an 11-week-old infant. This year more sexual assaults have been reported so far than in all of 2003, she said. Stone said she attributes that to more people knowing about the services NASV offers.

The statistics regarding male rape are staggering, she said. Hundreds of men are assaulted and don't report it.

Stone said most men are ashamed to report being sexually assaulted. Many fear that if anyone knew they had been so attacked by another man that their family and friends might assume they're gay.

But Stone said that men who rape other men aren't necessarily homosexual and that sexual attraction has little to do with rape.

"It's an act of power and control," she said. "It's never about love or romance."

Brandon Kremer, a senior who plans to become a pharmacist, said he found those statistics interesting.

"It changes how I look at dating," he said. "All those facts really helped."

Most victims know their attackers, Stone said. Some don't report the attack because the attacker may be well liked and they're afraid of hurting his reputation. They may even like that person and don't want to get him in trouble. The attacker may also have threatened to hurt the victim again or hurt a family member if he tells.

"Another thing, especially with teenagers, is they may have committed a crime," Stone said. "Maybe they had been out drinking or smoking a joint. They're afraid they're going to get in trouble if they report the rape."

Some don't report because they're afraid no one will believe them, but Stone said that statistically only 2 percent of people who report a rape lied about it.

Tyne Swain, a junior who is considering a career in dermatology, said Stone's presentation hit home. While she didn't want to elaborate, Swain said she knows someone who was assaulted and she wants to be better informed.

"It was interesting stuff," she said. "There were a lot of statistics I did not know about."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

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