A drug-assisted sexual assault is one in which the perpetrated takes advantage of and sexually violates a victim who’s under the influence of some type of mind-altering substance. The perp may take advantage of a victim that became inebriated on her own. In the alternative, a perp may have induced inebriation or intoxication in a victim by doing something like slipping a mind-altering drug into the victim’s beverage. Due to the nature of a drug-facilitated sexual assault, or DFSA, the victim may lose consciousness, blackout, or suffer memory loss surrounding the incident. Thus, a victim may not be immediately aware of being sexually assaulted of victimized. As a result, a victim needs to be aware of signs that she’s been sexually assaulted. There are nine more commonplace signs that you’ve been the victim of a drug-facilitated sexual assault:
- Memory lapses
- Bruising of the body
- Soreness of the body
- Bleeding of the body
- Broken bones and sprains
- Pain somewhere on the body
- Difficulty walking
- Sexually transmitted disease
Memory Lapses
A key sign that you may have been the victim of DFSA is that you suffer memory lapses, lack of consciousness, or blackouts associated with a particular period of time. For example, you attend a part and end up being incapable to remember a specific time period during the event. This is not a matter of forgetting a particular incident during the course of an entire evening. Rather, you’ve “lost” a block of time during the party for which you’ve now know recollection of what occurred.
Bruising of the Body
Another sign that you’re possibly the victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault is bruising on your body that you can’t explain. You need to pay particular attention if you’ve bruising in your genital area. Bruising might also be present in the area of a victim’s anus
Soreness of the Body
Soreness in different locations of your body represents a sign that you may have been the victim of a drug-facilitated sexual assault is that you experience soreness in different spots on your body. As is the case with bruising, you don’t have a ready explanation as to why you’re experiencing soreness. Soreness is the genital area is of particular importance.
Bleeding of the Body
On a related note, if you experience bleeding somewhere on your body, including cuts and scrapes, this can be an indication that you’re the victim of DFSA. As with bruising and soreness, pay particular attention to bleeding in the genital area as well as at the anus. This is highly indicative of a person being sexually victimized.
Broken Bones and Sprains
If you’ve broken a bone or suffered a sprain and you can’t identify the origin, this may be a sign that you’ve been the victim of a drug-facilitated sexual assault. Examples of broken bones that more commonly are associated with DFSA include fingers, arms, legs, and the nose.
Difficulty Walking
An indicator that you may have been victimized in a drug-facilitated sexual assault is that you’ve an unexplained difficulty walking. This can arise from the assault itself. It can also be the result that oftentimes a DFSA victim is unconscious and in a less than ideal position for a more extended period of time.
Sexually Transmitted Disease
Unfortunately, a surprising percentage of victims of drug-facilitated sexual assault end up with some type of sexually transmitted disease. If you end up with an STD and haven’t been sexually active with multiple partners, the possibility exists that you were a DFSA victim.
Pregnancy
Finally, occasionally a victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault ends up pregnant. If you find yourself pregnant and haven’t been sexually active, there is a real possibility that you are a DFSA victim. A pregnancy stemming from a sexual assault is one of the more challenging situations that can confront a woman during the course of a lifetime.
In addition to these signs, a victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault may also experience emotional and physical discomfort whilst recovering from the effects of the mind-altering substance used in a DFSA assault. Simply, a victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault may feel “hungover” the following day as if dealing with the aftermath of drinking too much.
If you are suffering from one of the signs drug-facilitated sexual assault set forth here, and cannot explain how it occurred, you want to give serious consideration to ascertaining how you incurred one or another of these conditions. In this regard, think about involving a trusted friend or family member in the “investigatory” process. If as you move forward and discover that you may be the victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault, you very well may want (if not need) the support and assistance of someone you trust.