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Sexual Assault Response Awareness: interest v. commitment

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Cheryl L. Toner
  • Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  "Can you paint a picture?" It seems like an innocent enough question, one posed by Craig Zablocki, a guest speaker for a Barksdale Sexual Assault Awareness Month event, April 17, 2012.

What does painting a picture and the Air Force's training focus on bystander intervention have in common? Surprisingly, a lot.

Ask a child if he or she can paint a picture, and the immediate response is, "Yes!" said Zablocki. Ask a group of adults the same question - as he did that day - and only a few hands out of more than 100 were raised. During the course of the one-hour presentation, Zablocki took the crowd on a journey of self-discovery and how adults make decisions every day. This training demonstrated how, as adults, people start to doubt their abilities and those doubts prevent people from doing their best in everyday situations.

Zablocki has spoken to various groups around the United States, to include briefing non-profit organizations, fortune 500 companies and different military organizations on how to create positive work environments. His strength is using humor to educate any crowd on the dangers of "taking ourselves too seriously" and how those thoughts can prevent anyone from being their best.

Back to the question about painting a picture: Zablocki asked a follow-up question to one of the Airmen who raised his hand. "You said you could draw a picture?" The Airmen responded with, "Depends. What you do want a picture of?"

This example shows as people age, the "herd" mentality kicks in and people are less inclined to do what comes naturally. It's not that any adult couldn't paint a picture: it's that when other people are looking, adults start to doubt themselves on just how good the picture is. Ask a child - they don't care. They are not usually self-conscious about things like this. Children just want to have fun and paint a picture.

Zablocki then posed another question to the crowd. "If you believe you can't paint a picture, what is it you never try to do?" The response from the group was that they would never paint a picture. Adults will let their doubts or fears stop them from believing they have the ability to accomplish tasks that others say they can't do or don't do well.

Roll this philosophy into the DoD's current bystander intervention training. Someone is in trouble. You should help them. Seems logical, right? Believe it or not, when more people are present, it goes against human nature to help someone in distress.

A number of elements are working against anyone who is a witness to a crime.

"It's tough for someone to intervene because we have so many doubts about our abilities to figure out how to do the right thing. Because of this, bystander intervention training has been a great lesson to teach our Airmen for the last two years," said Capt. Dallas Webb, Barksdale's Sexual Assault Response Coordinator.

Everyone has read articles where a bystander rescued someone, and the rescuer said something like, "It just seemed like the right thing to do." Bystander training is meant to "help aid Airmen who want to do the right thing in determining the best intervention strategy they can use to turn a potentially dangerous or inappropriate situation into something positive," said Webb.

The goals of the events throughout the month were to raise awareness and prevention efforts of all members across the base, and build a bigger picture of why it is important for everyone to intervene. Barksdale hosted keynote speaker Zablocki who talked to Airmen, helping them see why intervention is so important and what people can do to overcome the "herd" reaction, and quell the belief that they can't do anything to stop certain situations from developing into dangerous ones.

A little history
A psychological phenomenon that was first analyzed in 1968 is the "bystander effect." The catalyst for the study was a murder in New York where witnesses didn't come to the aid of a murder victim. The news media reported of a woman, Kitty Genovese, who was raped and stabbed to death in 1964 as at least a dozen people heard her cries for help, according to the "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology."

While inaction in that situation seemed heartless, witnesses were actually acting "normally" as, according to the journal, the greater number the bystanders, the less likely any of them will help. This phenomena was entitled "diffusion of responsibility." According to a U.S. Bureau of Justice publication on victims, of the about 6.4 million violent victimizations annually, someone else was present about two-thirds of the time. Of those times when someone else was present, a witness intervened only 65 percent of the time. Perhaps knowing that more than half the time, people overcame their natural reaction to intervene should be good news; however, is it really good news?

Interested or committed?
Zablocki took another turn along our one hour journey and asked the group, "Is anyone here interested in losing weight?" Many Airmen raised their hands. He then asked, "How is that going for you?" A light chuckle broke out in the crowd. After a few more questions, Zablocki asked, "If I were to tell you all, if you could lose 10 pounds in the next month, you would get $10,000. How many of you would figure out how to lose that 10 pounds?" This was the perfect lead in for Zablocki's discussion of a person knowing "How to" vs their "Want to" act. His point was if people have a "big enough 'want to,' ($10,000)," people will figure out the "how to."

The same outlook applies to bystander intervention: "If that were your wife, your sister or your mother being attacked, would you be 'interested' in helping, or would you be 'committed' to helping?" Zablocki asked.

All of his questions and discussion came to a common thread - it's whether the Airmen in the group were pleasing people or serving people. "It's purpose over personality," he said. If it is someone you love or care about who may potentially be assaulted, he said that love trumps all our fears and doubts.

Of all the questions he asked, it wasn't that any Airman couldn't draw a picture, or wouldn't help when someone is being attacked, it's that most people think of their own insecurities and those insecurities can take precedence over taking action. This is especially true when there is a small window of opportunity to do something and there are others around who the bystander feels have a greater responsibility to act.

"Kids are OK not knowing, or not being right," he said. "Adults naturally hold back, even when intervention is calling for us to give more, we hold back."

It goes back to whether people are interested in helping vs. committed to helping. Whether you wish to please people or serve them. "As Wingmen we all understand the difference and know that the best way to truly be great Wingmen to serve one another," said Webb. "When you are just trying to please the people around you, it doesn't help them and is usually only an effort to get people to like you. To serve others is a reflection of our Core Values and of being great Wingmen."

Interest alone isn't enough to spur anyone into action. "We need a commitment from our Airmen to intervene," said Webb. The goal was that every Airman will make a commitment to helping, not only during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but also the other 11 months of the year.