Pubdate: Thu, 17 Nov 2005
Source: Dalhousie Gazette, The (CN NS Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Dalhousie Gazette
Contact:  http://www.dalgazette.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2866
Author: Ben Saifer, and Jena Martin, staff writers

DATE RAPE ON CAMPUSES

Students Tell Their Stories

Statistics show that 84 per cent of date rape victims knew their
attackers and 57 per cent were on dates.

As a sophomore arriving on the University of Toronto campus for the
first time, Jill was anxious to make new friends, party with new
people, and take advantage of the university experience. She didn't
anticipate, however, being drugged and raped by someone close to her.

In her first week of classes, Jill, who told her story on the
condition that her and her assailant's real names would not be
printed, met Ryan in her microeconomics class.

"He approached me and I was anxious to talk to him, I didn't know
anyone else," she says. "He was hot, tall, shaved head but not to the
skin, round face, big brown eyes. He was kind of like a preppy skater.
He wore baggy pants, collared shirts and skateboarded and I remember
noticing him first because he constantly chewed on the end of his pen."

Ryan introduced her to his friends and as the semester progressed they
began spending more time together.

"I didn't know many people and he made it very comfortable for me,"
she says.

The more comfortable she got with him, the more she started partying
and drinking with his friends, which was a new experience for her.
Jill noticed that Ryan became more possessive toward her but she was
scared of losing the network of friends that had come with their
relationship, and decided to stay with him.

"I had never had a serious boyfriend before, so I had nothing to
compare our relationship to," she says. "I had little sexual
experience at that point, I had given head once but that was it. I was
a virgin=85 was."

One night at a house party, with the use of drugs, Ryan's
possessiveness turned him from aggressive boyfriend to criminal.

"Everybody was drinking, it was all his friends, but they were my
comfort group so I didn't feel weird about getting a little drunk,"
she says. "The last thing I remember is looking down at my glass and
seeing something fizzing.

"The next morning I woke up and felt like shit. My sheets were
bloody."

After speaking with Ryan's friends, Jill learned that he had given her
a "roophie."

Roophies are the common name for the pill form of the drug, Rohypnol.
Its effects, which often last for more than eight hours, can include
drowsiness, nausea, seizures, loss of consciousness and vomiting.
Overdoses can be fatal.

"For some, Rohypnol is a drug of choice," says Jacki, who works for
the Avalon Sexual Assault Center, a program in Halifax dedicated to
eliminating all forms of sexual violence, social injustice and forms
of oppression.

"But it's also a new means for people to sexually assault," she says.
"Some people use weapons, others use drugs and alcohol."

Since the drug almost immediately disappears from the victim's blood
stream and because date rape crimes often go unreported, it's
difficult to get exact statistics on how widely Rohypnol and other
date rape drugs are used, says Jacki.

The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program (SANE), which provides
emergency medical services and forensic testing, reported that of the
84 assault cases they treated in 2003, 21 people believed they had
been drugged.

In 2004, 15 of the 89 people who went to SANE thought they had been
drugged.

Jacki says that date rape drugs are usually disbursed at private
gatherings where people are more careless with their drinks.

Nevertheless, Gary Muise, Vice President of Operations for the group
that manages the Dome Nightclub, says date rape is a serious concern
that needs to be addressed in the bar scene. But he says that it's a
very difficult task because the nature of the crime makes it
impossible to protect everyone.

Casey Richardson, a third-year Kings student, says she was drugged
last year at the Dome.

"I remember being on my game one minute and then I started vomiting,"
she says. "My friend, Adrian, said I couldn't hold my head up, I
couldn't open my eyes, I was totally out of it," she says.

"I just remember I was screaming and crying=85crying for my mother. I
couldn't control anything."

Muise says that the Dome is taking steps to ensure that crimes like
these don't occur.

Staff members are trained to be aware of highly intoxicated patrons
and ensure their safety. Security guards who swipe identification
cards and a 32-camera surveillance system help keep track of who is in
the bar. And patrons are allowed to bring their drinks into the
washrooms so nobody can drop any drugs into them.

Muise says bar patrons must always be aware of their surroundings to
avoid being drugged.

He says that unless they see drinks being poured themselves, bar
patrons should avoid accepting drinks and should never leave their
drink alone.

While Casey was lucky to have friends with her at the bar and was
taken home before someone could take advantage of her, Jill was
targeted by someone she trusted.

Carleton's University Equity Services statistics on date rape show
that 84 percent of rape victims knew their attacker and 57 per cent
were on dates.

Roughly 42 per cent of victims, like Jill, didn't tell anyone about
their attack after it happened.

"Afterwards, I felt more alone and alienated than I had before,
especially since I had become entirely dependent on his social
circle," says Jill. "It taught me a lesson about choice. I had no
control at that point and if I did I didn't know I had it."

As a result, Jill says she stayed with Ryan who would regularly drug
and rape her and she started doing cocaine in order to numb her
battered emotions.

It was not until she went home and her friends and family saw how
depressed she was, that Jill says she was able to break out of her
vicious cycle.

Now recovering from her past, Jill wants to tell her story so it does
not happen to others.

"I gave myself the choice, I said, `[Jill,] you can be the victim and
let this guy destroy and guide the rest of your life, or you can take
this experience, reflect upon it, and use it to help others.'"
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