How to Protect Yourself from Date Rape

We do not hear about date rape often but we should not discount the fact that this unfortunate thing happens and we only hope it will not happen to one of our daughters or to the daughters of someone we know. It is important that we educate our daughters about the danger of date rape so they should not be victims.

According to some studies, rape is most often committed by people we know and in places we consider safe like homes, workplaces, schools and during dates. Date rapes should be something that we have to be vigilant about. Date rapes are facilitated by a drug, alcohol or any substance that makes us numb, weak and unconscious.

As parents, knowing that our daughter suffered date rape is a nightmare. So, we have to warn them before it happens. We should tell our daughters the following things:

• Be very careful with first meetings: We have to warn our daughters about the dangers of meeting with strangers. Meeting with people we met online or texting is not a sin but we have to know the person well before deciding to meet them. We should remind our daughters to bring some company if they really wish to meet.

• Only date the people we know: Things happen because we do not know the person well. Our daughters are social beings – meeting people are fascinating to them. We should not deter them from meeting other people but we have to stress that they only date people they know or the people whose background we know of.

• Leave if the date is uncomfortable: After spending 10 to 30 minutes with a date, we will know if it is worth staying or not. Our daughters need to know that they are not pushed to spend more than they can spare. If it is too uncomfortable, our daughters should know when to leave.

• Do not get drunk in public: This is one of the things that we should emphasize to our daughters. Alcohol will decrease one’s awareness, it can cloud judgment and it will make us vulnerable. The alcohol will encourage any bad motives.

• Arm: The least that we can do for our daughters is to arm them by teaching them self-defence or if not, we can buy pepper spray and let our daughters have them. The pepper spray should be stashed in their clutch in case things happen. Pepper sprays can make a difference at the end of the day.

We cannot control who our daughters meet and speak but we have to educate them of the dangers of date rape so they will be vigilant.