Half of the rape and abuse victims the staff served in emergency rooms were under 14 years of age. They seize opportunities in an impulsive act. There is not universal agreement on how a woman should respond during an attack. Some experts suggest a woman should resist, fighting back with every imaginable resource. They cite statistics showing that if women fight back, their odds of being raped are cut in half, while their odds of being injured are raised by 10 percent.
Most experts caution that there is no one correct response.
The important thing is to live through the assault. Violence Against Women is made possible in part by a grant from the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation and the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation. The documentary is a production of public television station KUED in Salt Lake City, Utah.