No means no. And the absence of a yes is also a no. When it comes to rape, a lot of attention is paid to the former, but the latter continues to raise questions. Usually, endurance a person to have sexual relations is interpreted as not. What’s happening if he stays still and doesn’t show any resistance. This is something that has been discussed a lot, especially at the media level, but in some cases also at the legal level. For this reason, a group of scientists from University College London conducted research aimed at demonstrating on a neurological level that it is fear that paralyzes these victims. Noel agreement.
In his study, published in Nature Human Behaviorgive an example of a case R vs. Lennoxwhich took place in Australia in 2018. During the trial, the defense jury asked the victim why she froze during the attack, trying to show that, without countering, it was not a rape but a consensual relationship. In Spain we are much closer for example packwith whom it was also interrogated that the victim was against gang rape.
To protect the victims, it is often claimed that they freeze in fear of a more violent attack. But actually there is more. This may affect; but above all it is brain the one who deprives them of their will. This is an involuntary reaction that occurs in other animals when they feel threatened. But let’s see what it consists of.
When the brain turns off during the rape
Before we start talking about this study, it is worth reviewing it. restrictions, recognized by the authors themselves.
natural rape it is a crime, so it cannot be studied in humans. You can see how a person’s brain changes during consensual sex. There are many studies that are doing. But not during the rape.
Therefore, the study was carried out in animals at risk. Nevertheless, the results are quite significant, and their authors insist that they should be taken into account. What do these results say?
Basically, they analyze what happens in the brain during a threat. It is known that many animals, including humans, when they are in danger, penetrate into the so-called fight or flight answer. That is, your body is preparing to meet this danger or run away. The energy of the body is directed primarily to the muscles of the limbs, which tense and tingle, the heartbeat and breathing become more frequent, sphincters relax, sweating increases …. All this taken to the extreme, we humans know how anxiety. There it ceases to be an evolutionary response and becomes a problem to be fought. But what if the threat is even greater?
In this case, the animals were observed to remain petrified. In fact, in some cases it even looks like they are dead. it’s profitable; Well, for example, it could help them go unnoticed. predator.
When analyzing neurological studies of this type of reaction, it was noticed that this is due to the fact that neural circuits responsible for voluntary control are blocked over the body. In other words, the brain turns off so they cannot move.
What does all this have to do with sexual abuse?
We have already seen that in humans and other animals, the reactions leading to anxiety are very similar. For this reason, one would expect that the response to an emergency threat would also be similar.
In addition, according to the authors of this study, interviews with rape victims suggest that 70% felt frozenunable to move or even cry. Exactly the same thing happens with other types of animals.
Therefore, this neurological explanation should be taken into account in research. If a rape victim doesn’t move, it’s not because she’s giving her agreement. It’s because she’s so scared that her brain stops her from moving. It must be horrifying enough to feel the horror that binds you, as well as the need to explain why. Let’s start paying more attention to our brain.
Source: Hiper Textual
