Preventing Acquaintance Rape

Trust Your Instincts

If you feel ill, get help immediately!

• At parties or clubs with friends, never leave your drink unattended or bring your own drinks to private parties.
• Do not accept drinks from punch bowls or other common containers.
• Go out with a group of friends or double date - pay attention to your friends; watch out for one another. At parties, only accept drinks in cans or closed containers.
• Be aware of your surroundings.
• When dating, try to get as much information about your date as possible. If you met this date through mutual friends, ask them what they know about this person.

When you're on the date

• Make your expectations clear.
• If you don't want someone touching you, kissing you, or making advances toward you, let the know that. A forceful, strong attitude will convey a message to a would-be rapist.
• If you are on a date, tell others when you'll be back. If you feel threatened, inform your date that you've told others where you are and that you need to call them periodically. Again, if it doesn't feel right, trust your intuition. Get help, get away from the person, do whatever you can to put yourself in a safer place.
• Be safe. All you know and have read regarding "stranger" rape applies here - things like carrying a whistle, locking car doors, walking in lighted areas, knowing *basic self-defense skill and maintaining a secure locked home.
• Avoid placing yourself in a state in which you are not able to take precautions. We all recognize that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is very dangerous. So is dating under the same circumstances. It can compromise our ability to protect ourselves.
• Alcohol is by far the most common "Date-Rape" Drug.