Pamphlet providing information about the Women\u27s Rape Crisis Center Jacksonville with identification card for Women\u27s Rape Crisis Center Advocate taped to cover. Major local projects: Founding of Women\u27s Rape Crisis Center

Women\u27s Rape Crisis Center

English

UNF Digital Commons

University of North Florida UNF Digital Commons National Organization for Women, Jacksonville, Florida, and Jacksonville Women's Movement Collection Special Collections April 2021 Pamphlet: Stop Rape Women's Rape Crisis Center Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/nowjaxmaterials  Part of the Social History Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Pamphlet: Stop Rape. No date. National Organization For Women, Jacksonville, Florida, and Jacksonville Women's Movement Collection. University of North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections and Archives. UNF Digital Commons, https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/nowjaxmaterials/31/ This Archival Material is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in National Organization for Women, Jacksonville, Florida, and Jacksonville Women's Movement Collection by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © April 2021 All Rights Reserved STOP RAPEthe women's rape crisis center Concerned about the incidence of rape-403 reported cases in 1973-in Jacksonville and the lack of services available to victims, a group of thirty women were motivated to form the Wom-en's Rape Crisis Center. Months of planning how to provide services to rape victims preceded the center's opening on March l, 197 4. A month later, WRCC became a non-profit corporation with two coordinators, a treasurer and an increasingly active 15-member board of directors. The Women's Rape Crisis Center operotes a 24-hour hotline which recent or previous rape vic-tims may call for counseling or assistance. WRCC volunteers, who have been screened and trained specifically for the center are on duty to handle each call confidentially and individually. what happens when a rape victim calls? Whether a rape victim needs someone to care for her children while she travels through legal procedures or whether she wants to talk about her experience, a WRCC volunteer is ready. When a woman calls the hotline-384-2234-she leaves her name and telephone numbers with the volunteer at the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention Center. The information is given to a WRCC phone volunteer-called an advocate-who will return her call immediately. Then the advocate attempts to determine what services the victim needs. Once the victim's immediate concerns are taken care of (such as medical attention, temporary shelter or fear of being alone) the WRCC advo-cate provides information about police proce-dures, hospital examinations, venereal and pregnancy testing and court procedures. WRCC will also provide accompaniment to the hospital emergency room and through the legal and ju-dicial processes, if desired. The services are C )3 ,e of n-to >n <l a 9r 4. C· C d le n ·e ii Jt ·s d s n , ,t n y I• ~ --9 tailored to what the victim needs and wants. At all times, the victim is encouraged to make her own decisions. The advocate's responsibility is to make sure that the rape victim is aware of all the options available to her. Referrals to medical, legal and social service agencies are made where indicated. And, of course, follow-up telephone calls to the rape victim are made by the same advocate to lessen the effect of what often is a very traumatic experience for a woman. who calls the WRCC? During the first six months of operation, the Women's Rape Crisis Center has received dozens of calls ranging from requests for information to reports of obscene telephone calls and from reports of sexual abuse to requests for a good listening ear. The center has received just as many calls for general information on procedural matters and the operation of the center. Although WRCC makes no decisions for the vic-tim, about 70 % of those who call us decide to report their experiences to the police. However, we find that many victims do not call within ke ity re to re JP )Y at a ,e ns >n m ,d JS al c-to ?r I in J, the first few hours after they have been raped. Instead, the majority call a day or two later. While we are glad that they call . .. it would be more advisable for a victim to call within hours of the rape so that a hospital examination, if chosen, would provide evidence valuable in establishing the rape for the judicial process. what are WRCC's other services? The second most important service provided by the Women's Rape Crisis Center is education ... with the Speakers' Bureau being the primary tool. Composed of volunteers who have also served as advocates, the bureau is available to provide educational programs to community or-ganizations and agencies which request it. By calling the hotline-384-2234-a group can re-quest such speakers. The speakers, having served as advocates, are able to speak to the rape situation with first-hand knowledge of the problems encountered by local women. The speakers are able to in-form the public of WRCC services, the nature and prevalence of rape, the laws covering it, short-term and long-term rape prevention meth-ods and are able to dispel some of the common myths surrounding rape. While the Speaker's Bureau does not charge a fee for its programs, the center hopes to receive donations or honorariums for the presentations. The Women's Rape Crisis Center's only source of funding at this time is donations of time services or money. Other services the WRCC is providing include the development of a good working relationship between itself and the local law enforcement agencies. The center is attempting to develop research data on the facts surrounding local rapes. WRCC is working with local agencies to establish a permanent Rape Services Center where women can go immediately for care. The center is interested in investigating and improv-ing existing laws concerning rape and in the hiring of women by law enforcement agencies to deal with rape victims. -03 the of m-to on !Q . a ,er 14-·ic-cc ed ~le m ire Jal >Ut ~rs nd is an ly. ,at en iry ,o-:e-nd :c tal ju-ire The center offers discussion groups for rape vic-tims wishing to talk about their experiences with other women who share the same problem. The center is concerned about the availability of self-defense courses for women. The center be-1 ieves that most women are not "programmed" to assault other human beings· and that such maneuvers must be perfected if they are to do any good. Self-defense is also a state of mind, involving self confidence and such fundamentals as locking the car and composing oneself in a panicky situation. WRCC's future could include you Rape is finally being regarded with as much serious attention as are other violent crimes ... no longer is rape discussed in hushed tones or masked with bad jokes. Because of this emerging attitude, the Women's Rape Crisis Center has been readily accepted by the Jacksonville com-munity. We want to expand our present services and hope to work with other agencies in estab-lishing self-defense courses and a treatment center for sex offenders. All of this requires woman-power and money-power generated from the community. No matter what the individual's skills, she can find a place at WRCC. Typing, distributing stickers and bro-chures, mailing, doing research - are all as needed as serving as an advocate or speaker. We need your woman-power to help other women . . . to STOP RAPE. MYTH: TRUTH: MYTH: TRUTH: MYTH: TRUTH: Women get raped at night in dark alleys by strangers. Most rapes-approximately 60%-oc-cur in homes and residences. The ma-jority of the victims-nearly two thirds -have previously met their rapists. Rape is a sexual act. Rape is an act of violence. Rapists are psychotic, sick human beings. In psychological tests, rapists tend to score normally. MYTH: Women ask to be raped by men who suddenly lase control for once in their lives because of the clothes the women wear, the places they go and the way they act. TRUTH: Rapists often choose for their victims women who are vulnerable because of age or illness. Studies have shown that the rapist is not "turned on" by physical appearance . Some law en-forcement officials estimate that the average rapist performs his act of violence once a week. IF YOU HAD TROUBLE SEPARATING MYTH FROM REALITY, YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN LEARN-ING MORE OR IN HELPING TO EDUCATE OTHERS IN THE COMMUNITY. IF SO, PLEASE FILL OUT THE COUPON BELOW AND RETURN TO WRCC. D Send more information. D I want to donate my services to WRCC. D My organization wants WRCC to speak. D Enclosed is my donation of $____ which is tax deductible. Name ___________ Address __________ City ----------- Phone___________ Return to: w · R c· · c omen s ape risis enter P.O. Box 10572 Jacksonville, Fla. 32207 

Pamphlet: Stop Rape

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Pamphlet: Stop Rape

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