Colorado University rolls out rape prevention plan with gun free zones, whistles, call boxes and advises victims to urinate on attackers
An updated advisory on the website of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs offers female students new tactics to fend off rapists, including vomiting, urinating and telling an attacker they have a disease.
The new recommendations came Monday evening, hours after the Colorado House passed a package of gun safety bills, including one that would ban the concealed carrying of guns on college campuses.
The ten-point list, which also includes conventional advice such as screaming and biting, is taught in a self defense class for female students at the school, according to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Department of Public Safety website.
The list comes just days after Democratic State Rep. Joe Salazar said on the floor of the legislature that women should not carry firearms for protection against potential attacks because they could accidentally shoot someone.
“There are some gender inequities on college campuses … that’s true.”
“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at,” Salazar said. “And you don’t know if you feel like you’re going to be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop a round at somebody.”
“We were having a public policy debate on whether or not guns make people safer on campus. I don’t believe they do. That was the point I was trying to make. If anyone thinks I’m not sensitive to the dangers women face, they’re wrong. I am a husband and father of two beautiful girls, and I’ve spent the last decade defending women’s rights as a civil rights attorney.”
Salazar is not alone in his relative ignorance of sexual assault and self-defense. The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs has a series of 60s-style safety tips for students to “protect themselves”:
Salazar has since “apologized.”
House Republicans rebuked Salazar for his comments.
“Questioning a woman’s judgment over whether or not she is about to be raped is insensitive and insulting to women everywhere,” Republican State Rep. Polly Lawrence said in a statement posted on the House Republicans website.
In a statement provided to ABCNews.com, Salazar said he was “deeply sorry.”
“The words I said near the end of a 12-hour debate are not reflective of the point I was trying to make,” he said. “I am a husband and father of two girls. I care deeply about their safety, and I would never question a woman’s ability to discern a threat. My larger point was about how more guns on campus don’t mean you’re more safe. I used a bad example. Again, I’m sorry.”
The gun bills will now move to the state senate for a vote.
[…] a Monday legislative hearing concerning Colorado’s proposed ban on concealed firearms on college campuses, rape survivor Amanda Collins shared her story and how she wished she would’ve had a firearm to […]
[…] began by slamming these “ignorant politicians” in Colorado for trying to remove a woman’s right to u…against an attacker via gun control […]
[…] safety in Colorado has raised a lot of eyebrows lately with Rep. Joe Salazar suggested that women need to use call boxes or whistles as part of rape prevention instead “because you […]