Rice Offers First Rape Aggression Defense Classes in Texas

Contact: Philip Montgomery
Phone: (713) 831-4792

Rice Offers First Rape Aggression Defense Classes in Texas

Lindley Doran, director of the Rice
Counseling Center, and 13 other women from Rice are participating in
the first Rape Aggression Defense program in Texas with classes to
be held Monday, June 5, and Wednesday, June 7.

A police officer and a student counselor in Delaware developed
the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) program in 1989 to teach women how
to survive sexual assaults.

The RAD instructors, who are Rice University police officers,
pose as attackers and harass the students verbally and physically.
They are trained not to harm the students. To protect themselves
from the students, the instructors wear full-body, heavily padded
suits.

“They (instructors) do a remarkable job,” Doran said. “They are
sensitive to women’s issues.” But, she added, “It make you feel
pretty good when you can whip them around.”

The students learn different defensive techniques including
using their foreheads to break an attacker’s nose, gouging an
attacker’s eyes and punching or kicking vital areas.

“The techniques are basic self-defense techniques,” said Jim
Baylor, a crime prevention specialist with the Rice police and a RAD
instructor. “It’s just street fighting.”

For more information about the classes or to interview
instructors and students, contact Philip Montgomery, associate
director of the News Office, at (713) 831-4792.

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