Culturally sensitive acquaintance rape prevention program for Japanese female students in North America

Acquaintance rape is one of the major problems among the student population and it can be seen in their social life, such as at parties and/or in date situations. Compared with stranger rape, the victims of acquaintance rape tend to suffer more from self blame, or even fail to label their experience as rape due to the closeness of the relationship with the offender. As a result, the effort to provide proper information regarding acquaintance rape and to prevent it has been made and there is currently several prevention programs organized at educational institution in North America. Although international students in North America have the same potential of victimization, it is rare for minorities to be involved in the prevention program. Due to their cultural background, international students have the possibility to increase their risk of victimization and may be reluctant to seek help even after being victimized. For example, Japanese people tend to avoid confrontations and use indirect communication in order to keep harmony in interpersonal relationships this communication type may cause them to fail to decline risky invitations for what becomes recognized as acquaintance rape. This project proposes the necessity of a culturally sensitive prevention program for international students in North America in order to obtain proper knowledge about acquaintance rape and its prevention, to train assertive communication skills in English, and to get familiar and more comfortable with connecting with available support systems in North, taking Japanese females as a sample targeted population. --Leaf ii.