Rachel was watching a movie with a friend when he tried to rape her. Dawson tells her, “Don’t underestimate what happened to you. Report this guy to the police!”

Friend Tried to Rape Me

RACHEL'S QUESTION:

Rachel (Cleveland, OH): I’m 14 and there’s this boy I’ve known for 7 years. We were up one night by ourselves, watching a movie and then he tried to rape me.

DAWSON MCALLISTER'S ANSWER:

Dawson: So, he tried to rape you. What’d you do, beat the fire out of him?

Rachel: I tried, but he’s pretty strong.

Dawson: Did you get away?

Rachel: Yes, I did. I got away before he actually did rape me. It happened a week or two ago.

Dawson: Why don’t you press charges?

Rachel: I’ve known him for 7 years and when he said sorry, I know he meant it. I don’t know if I want to press charges. My mom does. But I’ve just known him too long to try do something like that.

Dawson: Well, he didn’t know you too long to try to rape you. It’s up to you but you’ve been traumatized. You need counseling. I’d say there needs to be some justice here. It wasn’t like hey kiss me, I don’t want to kiss you, oh okay. It wasn’t that, right? He was ripping at your clothes and the whole shebang. Do you think he’ll do it to someone else? I bet he does. Even if you don’t go to court, we need to scare the heebeegeebees out of him. Let him know you don’t sexually assault someone and then go, “Gee, I’m sorry,” and the whole world is fine. Meanwhile, don’t you stuff about how you feel. You were flat out traumatized, and need to get some kind of therapy, some kind of help, some kind of counseling.

Rachel: My mom wants me to get counseling.

Dawson: Your mom’s right on the money. Don’t underestimate what happened to you. You’re trying to do that right now because you don’t want to press charges. Now, your mom told you and I told you. Do you get a trend now of what the truth is? You have a couple more days to decide, I would think. You and your mom go down and talk to the police and see what they say. If nothing else, they can knock on the door and find the boy. He needs the fear of God put in him to never pull a stunt like that again. Take your stand, Rachel, that’s my best advice.

If you’ve been raped or sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline: RAINN.org.