Rape Crisis Scotland’s public awareness campaign
‘I just froze’ is Rape Crisis Scotland’s public awareness campaign, which aims to challenge and change common misconceptions that there is a right or wrong way for people to react during or after a rape.
Many people think they know how they or someone else would react if they were raped.
It’s often assumed that when a person is assaulted in this way they will (for example) scream or appear hysterical, and that they will fight back.
However, the truth is that nobody knows how they or anyone else will react, and although some people do respond in this way, it is very common for someone who is raped to respond quite differently to what we might expect. The way someone describes how they felt and what they did as an assault took place might surprise you and appear to be the opposite of what you thought. Many survivors describe freezing and feeling unable to move to escape, or to cry out or fight back, and this response is just as normal and natural as any other.
Video
Watch the video below which demonstrates the freeze response. Though this video is about rape, the freeze response can occur in any traumatic experience.