Bystander intervention is a strategy for prevention of various forms of assault such as sexual assault, bullying, and violence (Banyard, Plante & Moynihan, 2005). The intervention is aimed at empowering communities to stop such assaults when happening in public. Bystander intervention is aimed at equipping skills and awareness to the community to stand against the issues that support assault (McMahon & Banyard, 2011). Some sexual assaults happen in public in the presence of bystanders. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence a bystander has in a sexual assault case.
According to Banyard et al. (2005), bystanders can have a significant impact on sexual assault cases, and this includes both men and women. Talia's video exhibited bystanders who were less concerned about her when the young man decided to take her upstairs, yet Talia wanted to be taken home as she did not feel well. Although Talia’s friend seemed concerned about her state, she did not insist on knowing whether Talia would be okay with the young man while in privacy. Talia's friend asked her whether she was all right to go upstairs with her, putting her in a position she would demonstrate the bystander intervention (McMahon & Banyard, 2011). However, Talia would not make a rational judgment in that state.
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In the video, a bystander could have influenced the situation in a different way by following the couple upstairs to check on Talia who was drunk at the time, or stopping Talia from going upstairs. Talia’s friend was aware that Talia was very drunk and the young man seemed okay, at the time he took her upstairs. She also knew that Talia and the young man had not known each other for long, to trust him the way she did. It was probably because she was drunk. Since Talia was not in a good state of judgment, the friend could have been a good bystander and intervened by preventing her from going upstairs with the young man.
References
Banyard, V. L., Plante, E. G., & Moynihan, M. M. (2005). Rape prevention through bystander education: Bringing a broader community perspective to sexual violence prevention. US Department of Justice .
McMahon, S., & Banyard, V. L. (2011). When can I help? A conceptual framework for the prevention of sexual violence through bystander intervention. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse , 1524838011426015.
