Lighted areas. Walking with friends. Blue safety lights. These are all common safety measures that girls look to take. While Fairfield seems relatively small and safe, how safe can one truly be?
A new program entitled Rape Aggression Defense System (R.A.D.) is presently at Fairfield to help teach women how to defend themselves in the case of an attack.
The program is taught by Public Safety Officer Rebecca Lea Lasky, who was recently trained as a R.A.D. instructor.
“This is great for anyone to know. Any female should have enough confidence to stand up for herself,” Lasky said.
According to the R.A.D. pamphlet, R.A.D. will teach those who participate how to “develop and enhance the options of self defense, so they may become viable considerations to the woman who is attacked.”
“We teach hand techniques, it is a mini-martial arts, geared towards females and to their strengths,” Lasky said. “Also we will teach how not to get yourself into these kinds of [attack] situations.”
Currently R.A.D. is the largest women’s self defense training network in the U.S. This is the first year that R.A.D. has come to Fairfield and the training will be held in four, six-hour sessions that started on October 10. Participation is currently limited to females on campus, but Lasky hopes that they will be able to expand to the local community and even to high schools.
“We want to eventually open it up to get high school girls involved. Especially before they go to college, this is good information for them to know,” Lasky said.
Many students also seem to think that the concept behind R.A.D. is important for females.
“I think this is really important,” said Jill Eichler ’09. ” It’s important to be aware and to know how to protect yourself if you’re put into a situation like that.”
Ali Curtin ’08 said that just having the option to participate in these kinds of programs is good for girls.
“I think this is important especially for people who are really worried about being attacked. It is a good opportunity to have a program like this,” she said.
The student body was e-mailed information about the R.A.D. program. However, many of the students interviewed who were not participating said that they would have attended had there been better advertising.
“I would have definitely attended, but do not remember hearing any information on this,” Eichler said. “I just think this kind of information is important for females to know.”
Frank Fraioli ’08 agrees that rape defensive programs are good tools and resources for any person to know.
“Prevention is so important when it come to rape because of the terrible physical and emotional damage that happens,” he said.
Fraioli believes, however, that programs like R.A.D. should not be geared exclusively towards women. He feels that the program would be more effective and universally helpful if they addressed the safety and protection of men as well.
“Guys can get sexually assaulted, also,” Fraioli said. “Perhaps redesign the program to fit male needs.”
Lasky is excited about the response to the R.A.D. system and hopes the participants will not only receive good information, but students will begin to see Public Safety Officers in a different way.
“It is better to have student/officer interaction; it will be a more positive light on officers,” she said.
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