Preventing Sexual Assault

Take care at all times to identify people and situations that may lead to sexual assault. The chances of being a victim can be lowered by following these practices:

• Train in self-defense.



• Use common sense in choosing the people you associate with.



• Avoid potentially dangerous situations when outside or in your house (answering the door) and when interacting with strangers anywhere.



• Avoid intimate or solo contact with people that you do not know well.



• If a person is making unwelcome sexual advances, no matter how minor, take action in the earliest stages and make every effort to disassociate from that person.



• Use self-control when drinking alcohol.



• At social events, be careful about what you consume and who has access to your drinks. 



• Avoid extreme intoxication in which you lose control, especially when you are not in a protected environment.



• Adopt an approach in dating and getting to know people that involves postponing being alone together, intimacy, and sexual interaction until you feel you have gotten to know the person very well.



• When intimacy is initiated between consenting parties, make limitations on what you want to do known, make them clear early in the encounter, and send clear messages to the other person about your feelings.



• Think about how you would react in an assault situation in advance and use that plan early and without reservation.