Seven in ten rape victims freeze in fear during attack
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MOST rape victims suffer involuntary paralysis during their ordeal, a study has found.
Seven out of ten women ‘froze’ during the attack which left them helpless and unable to defend themselves. The findings undermine defence claims often made on behalf of rapists that a victim who does not resist may have indicated ‘passive consent’.
The freezing reaction – called ‘tonic immobility’ – is common in nature.
Rabbits, for example, freeze so they appear dead during an attack, especially when resistance is not possible, the researchers said. However, the concept has been little studied in humans.
Prosecutors already advise juries it is a myth that victims always struggle during an attack. They are told that they can freeze from terror or shock.
Despite this, defence lawyers are still suggesting victims have consented because they do not move, a 2015 study of rape trials by Bath University found.
An estimated 85,000 women and 12,000 men a year are sexually assaulted in England and Wales but many choose not to report their ordeal. Many feel shame and guilt for not fighting back, blaming themselves for the actions of the attacker. Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute assessed 298 women who had visited a rape emergency clinic in Stockholm within a month of being attacked.
Seventy per cent reported ‘significant tonic immobility’ – nearly half of whom experienced extreme paralysis.
Lead author Dr Anna Moller said: ‘The present study shows that tonic immobility is more common than earlier described. This information is useful both in legal situations and in the psychoeducation of rape victims. Further, this knowledge can be applied in the education of medical students and law students.’
Tonic immobility was assessed by putting a series of scenarios to victims, which they had to indicate on a scale of one to ten whether they had experienced.
These included feeling frozen or paralysed, the inability to move or scream out though unrestrained, numbness, feeling cold, fearing for one’s life and feeling detached from self or surroundings. It also examined levels of fear and panic.
Prior trauma and a history of psychiatric treatment were also linked with paralysis.
Women with a history of being sexually assaulted were twice as likely to freeze during an attack. Those who experienced paralysis were also twice as likely to have suffered severe violence during the ordeal.
However, there was a 50 per cent reduction in those reporting immobility if they had drunk alcohol in the 12 hours beforehand.
Those who knew their attackers were just as likely to freeze during the ordeal as those attacked by a stranger.
Out of 189 women in the Swedish study who returned after six months, 38 per cent went on to suffer post traumatic stress disorder.
Experiencing tonic immobility meant a woman also had a greater risk of suffering severe depression.
‘Inability to move or scream’