Fight or flight? Scientists say there is a third response to sexual assault

The following content of The Panther contains subject matter and graphic descriptions having to do with allegations of sexual assault and dating violence.

The names in this story have been changed to protect the individual’s physical and emotional safety.

Imagine being frozen. Stuck in time. You can’t breathe, you can’t think. And you certainly don’t have the capacity to run or defend yourself.

That’s what it felt like for Kate, a sophomore Chapman student, when she was sexually assaulted by a friend and fellow student in 2015. Kate, who had been sexually assaulted three times before, became panic-stricken and unable to move when she sensed that her attacker was about to take advantage of her.

“He closed the door and I knew that it was going to happen again. And you just kind of freeze,” Kate said. “And I kept telling myself, it wasn’t going to be that situation, it wasn’t going to be that situation. But then it ended up being that situation.”

While many associate the phrase “fight or flight” with sexual assault or other traumatic experiences, experts say that there is also a third response, referred to as tonic immobility, or “rape-induced paralysis.” This response is caused by a release of hormones in the endocrine system, said psychologist Rebecca Campbell in a 2012 presentation at the National Institute of Justice.

Citing extensive research conducted by Campbell, Rape Crisis Counselor Dani Smith said that 12 to 50 percent of people who have been sexually assaulted experience tonic immobility, with research indicating that the number is closer to 50 percent.

Smith believes that freezing can oftentimes contribute to victim-blaming and self-blame, because those involved in the situation will question why he or she did not try to fend off his or her attacker.

“People will say, ‘Did you run? Did you fight? Did you scream?’” Smith said. “And so what researchers are finding is that a significant number people in the situation were not doing that. They weren’t running, they weren’t fighting. They were simply freezing.”

Although tonic immobility response is primarily experienced during an active sexual assault, people who have experienced sexual assault like Kate are at risk of undergoing this response in any situation where something triggers a memory of the assault.

“I’ve had situations where I’ve been having sex with partners, and all of the sudden I’m in a certain position that’s similar, or even temperature sometimes, noises, smells- anything, literally anything- and all of the sudden I’m shaking and I can’t breathe and I have a panic attack,” Kate said.

She also recalls a day when she was rehearsing for her vocal performance group outside when she spotted her assailant walking toward her with his friends, wearing a white T-shirt.

“I just felt my heart stop. And I stopped breathing. And I sat down, and every single white shirt that I saw from that point on, I thought it was him and I had the exact same feeling over and over again,” Kate said.

Kate never reported her assailant because she feared that she would be blamed for her sexual assault.

“I think that rape culture is a very real thing,” Kate said. “Everything in our society is based around this concept that women bring oppression upon themselves, that they in some way deserve it. And that’s just, I think, historical subjugation. It’s just manifested in a different way nowadays, and that’s through victim-blaming.”

Miranda Beckum, a senior creative writing major, also believes that victim-blaming stems from rape culture, but did not realize that she had been sexually assaulted until she took a women’s studies course in college.

“I had never even heard the term rape culture,” Beckum said. “And then I went into class and saw this presentation on rape culture. And I had this lightbulb moment of ‘Holy (expletive). Oh my God, I’m a victim.’”

Beckum had originally viewed her assault as a hookup, and was worried about categorizing it as a sexual assault because she did not want to make her friends angry.

Smith said that both victim-blaming and self-shame can play a part in individuals’ reticence to report instances of sexual assault.

“Not knowing if they will be believed, not wanting to be a victim, a fear of retaliation, among other things,” Smith said.

Smith said that while many different factors can contribute to a reluctance to report sexual assault, none of them are the fault of the person who was assaulted.

“No one has a right to hurt a person in this way. Ever. I don’t care what a person had on, I don’t care how much a person has had to drink,” Smith said. “No one has a right to do this to another human being.”