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If You Are A Victim...
Being a victim of interpersonal violence is never your fault! You cannot make someone assault
or abuse you, it is their choice.
If you have or think you may have been assaulted or abused, we encourage you to seek support. The
following are some suggestions for taking care of yourself:
- Get to a safe place.
- Contact someone who can help you,
such as a friend, family member, the police, residence hall advisor, sexual assault support services,
university counseling and psychological services, or an advocate from the Center Against
Rape and Domestic Violence
(see Find Resources for phone numbers).
- Get medical attention as soon as
possible. Even if you do not want to report this to the police, it is still
a good idea to see a doctor as you
may have injuries you are not aware of that require medical attention. Student
Health Services and Good Samaritan Hospital can provide free pregnancy and
STD/STI testing. If you choose to report the assault and have medical personnel
collect evidence, you should bring a change of clothing because they may
need to keep your clothes as evidence. If several days have gone by since
the assault, you can still go to the OSU Student Health Center for medical
attention.
- In the case that you may want to report,
if it is directly after the assault do not shower, bathe, douche, wash your
hands, brush your teeth, comb your hair, or use the toilet. Even though you
may desperately want to clean yourself, you may destroy important evidence if
you do so. If it's been a while since the assault or you have done any of
the things mentioned, that's ok, it may still be possible to
find evidence up to 84 hours after the assault.
- Write down everything you remember about the assailant and about what happened with as
much detail as possible.
- Remember, interpersonal violence is NEVER the fault of the victim/survivor.
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