the-future-now:Freezing up during rape is a common biological response, study finds “I couldn’t mo
the-future-now: Freezing up during rape is a common biological response, study finds “I couldn’t move. My body just shut down.” “I froze.” When reporting rape, survivors often recall feeling paralyzed: Aware of what was happening but unable to stop it, because their limbs just wouldn’t cooperate. A new study out of Sweden offers an explanation for that feeling of temporary paralysis: tonic immobility, or an involuntary self-defense mechanism cued during moments of extreme fear, which leaves the human body immobile and unresponsive until a threat has passed. Tonic immobility is essentially the same thing that happens when a possum suddenly stiffens and rolls over, as if dead, or a deer freezes in the headlights. And according to the study, published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica Wednesday, it’s also an eminently common response to sexual assault. Read more (6/7/`17) -- source link
#tw rape