Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Overcoming fear of judgement.

25 Dec 2023 · 1 min

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In this segment of a live talk, the speaker challenges a large audience to articulate a personal reason— a "why"— for intervening in a sexual assault scenario. By asking volunteers to raise their hands and state why they would step in, the speaker highlights how few people are willing to publicly declare their intent, revealing a pervasive fear of judgment and public opinion. The speaker emphasizes that without a deep, personal motivation, even those who recognize the correct action may remain passive. The rhetorical question about the survivor’s worth underscores the moral urgency and the need to overcome the fear of being judged in order to protect victims.

Chapters

Why am I going to intervene? Raise your hand and tell me why you'd be the one to intervene in this situation. Because if you don't have a why in the real situation, nobody takes action. Even if they know the right thing to do, they've got to have a deep why. Why would it be you? Anyone? All right, I see one hand up. I'm coming to you in a moment. I see 2 hands up. By the way, is that scary that we have a couple hundred people in this room and only 3 people can give me a reason they would stop a rape? Seriously, is that scary? Yes or no? Yes. This tells us how afraid we are to raise our hands out of public opinion. I just asked the easiest question of the day. Why would you intervene? Anybody could have raised their hand and said, because that's rape. But the idea that if I say something, I'll be judged, or it's not worth raising my hand for— think about the survivor in the room. Who's worth it?