a neurological explanation for the lack of reaction during a rape

by time news

2023-05-23 20:15:07

Why didn’t the victim defend himself? Lack of reaction or immobility during a rape or sexual assault is often interpreted as proof of non-assumed consent and sometimes justifies their actions in the eyes of the aggressors.

While psychology has long explained these behaviors, a study by two neuroscientists from theInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience of London, published Monday, May 22 in the review Nature Human Behavioursuggests that the state of amazement in which victims of rape or sexual assault find themselves explains their lack of reaction.

« Immobility can be entirely involuntary. In the face of threat, research has shown that the brain can block neural circuits that mediate voluntary control of body movement.say professors Patrick Haggard and Ebani Dhawan.

The phenomenon has clearly been observed in animals. Many of them « se briefly freeze in the face of a light threat and are ready to flee or start a fight. But when this threat is sudden and severe, such as physical restraint, they may find themselves in a state of prolonged immobility, with a so-called tonic fixed posture, or collapsed immobility, characterized by a loss of muscle tone.explain the researchers.

70% of victims say they felt “frozen”

Similar processes occur in humans, they claim. In questionnaire studies, victims often report being unable to move or cry out during a rape or sexual assault, including when they were not physically restrained.

Patrick Haggard and Ebani Dhawan cite a Swedish study according to which 70% of victims who consulted emergency services after an assault declared that they felt “frozen” and unable to move or cry out. A behavior which, according to them, corresponds to “prolonged or collapsed immobility” observed in animals.

While they cannot demonstrate this hypothesis scientifically, since rape and sexual assault are criminal behaviors that cannot be reproduced for study, the two researchers argue that immobility in response to extreme threat is probably unintentional and hope that their findings will encourage research on a neglected but crucial topic in defining active consent.

“Understanding the neurological mechanisms that underlie immobility during rape or sexual assault would help avoid unfairly blaming victimsfor their lack of reaction and to question their word “they point out.

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