Investigating the Self-Protective Potential of Immobility in Victims of Rape

Abstract

Using a nationwide sample of reported rape cases collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI; 389 victims; 89% stranger rapes), this study investigates assumptions about self-protective behaviors for rape victims. Past research on victim resistance strategies often specifies active resistance as self-protective, inadvertently underestimating the potential for biologically based reactions, such as tonic immobility, to be self-protective as well. Results confirm that rape victims who were verbally and physically immobile during the attack were less likely to be injured and have force used against them. In addition, victims who were verbally immobile suffered a less severe attack. The results indicate that immobility may protect the victim from increased injury, force, and severity of the attack. Implications for the legal and public definition of consent are discussed.

The exposition of rape in Cyprus: From the crime scene to the court room

“…To this end, literature highlights that (female) victims who had experienced child sexual abuse are more likely to exhibit tonic immobility (involuntary reflexing response) if sexually assaulted later, in their adulthood (Heidt et al, 2005). Additional research supports that tonic immobility may come to the surface in as high as 37% of the reactions of rape victims (Galliano et al, 1993) and, though it increases the possibilities of rape completion, it lessens the odds of physical injuries (de Heer and Jones, 2017), as well as curtailing the likelihood of reporting rape to the authorities (Pinciotti and Seligowski, 2021).…”

I did not scream. i could not; i was terrified. i just followed them. . .i blocked my mind. then they all raped me: A narrative inquiry on the onset of tonic immobility among women rape victims in Nigeria

“…TI has also been referred to as ‘death feigning’, which is regarded as an adaptive anti-predator behaviour [ 43 , 75 , 76 ], and a self-protection mechanism from further harm, given that they had already been physically assaulted and did not know when it would end [ 77 , 78 ]. Similar narratives were reported in the present study, some participants (P5 26–30; P6, 31–35; P7, 16–20; & P8 26–30) expressed halt catatonia to their advantage.…”

Dating App Facilitated Sexual Assault: A Retrospective Review of Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination Charts

“…The decreased use of alcohol and drugs in the DAppSA cases suggests that many of these victims were assaulted without the additional vulnerability associated with drug or alcohol intoxication. Rather than being incapacitated by drugs or alcohol, the DAppSA victims likely experienced intense fear from being assaulted at the first in-person meeting with their dating app connections resulting in freezing or tonic immobility (de Heer & Jones, 2017; Moor et al, 2013; TeBockhorst et al, 2015). Indeed, SANE documentation on the SAMFE charts included many statements such as, “I thought I was going to die” and “I was so scared that I just laid there.” The fear experienced by these victims was likely heightened by the increased amounts of strangulation as almost one-third of DAppSA victims reported being strangled during the SA.…”