Recently, the University of Colorado did a study on the reason why the rate at which CPR is administered to men is higher than that of women (based on previous research). Men receive CPR at 65 percent while women receive it at 54 percent.
I saw this study popping up all over my social media with people claiming that men are now afraid to give CPR in fear that they would be accused of sexual assault. As a woman who has been certified in CPR four times, I was interested to find out what the study results were and if what people on twitter were saying was true.
The researchers created an online forum where 54 people were asked why they think women are less likely to receive CPR in public. The most common reasons were inappropriate touching/exposure of the woman, fears of sexual assault accusations, perception that the woman is being over dramatic or faking the incident, fear of injuring the woman and claims that breasts will make CPR more challenging. Of those surveyed, 85 percent were white, 60 percent were male, and 30 percent had been trained in CPR. Women in the study were more likely to cite fear of injury as the reason. While men were more likely to cite fear of sexual assault allegations and inappropriate touching.
Given that there were only 56 people in this study, there simply isn’t enough evidence to make sweeping generalizations that “men are now afraid to give CPR in fear of being accused of sexual assault.” However, I thought this study would be especially interesting because of the Me Too Movement. I personally find it ridiculous that some men would be hesitant to perform a life-saving procedure because of sexual assault allegations. Especially when the longer you wait to administer CPR the lower the chance of survival is.
After the Me Too Movement, there have been men taking to social media claiming that they are now afraid to do things like flirt because they think they’ll be accused of sexual assault. However, if they paid attention to boundaries and respected women, they would have a better idea of what is appropriate conduct and what is not. These claims are a form of gaslighting and are most likely an attempt to make women feel they are being dramatic. The misconduct of men has gone unchecked for so long that they don’t even know the difference between sexual assault and saving someone’s life.