Rape was a hidden crime. Most victims remained silent. But 50 years ago, a social worker at what was then a small community hospital took it upon herself to advocate for and support victims, and to create what would become the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center.
In the 1970s, rape was a crime shrouded in secrecy and shame. Victims had few rights or protections in the criminal justice system. They rarely sought help or reported the crimes committed against them. It was within that milieu 50 years ago that a young social worker at a small community hospital in Santa Monica began to create what would become a groundbreaking center to serve rape victims. In 1974, Gail Abarbanel, LCSW, founded the Rape Treatment Center (RTC), which today is a program of UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and an international model for the care and treatment of rape victims. The scope of its influence has been so broad that, in 1991, Abarbanel and the Rape Treatment Center were honored in a White House Rose Garden ceremony, during which President George H.W. Bush presented her with a plaque recognizing the center for “raising the nation’s consciousness about the crime of rape and the ways in which rape victims are treated, and for bringing justice and effective care to victims.” Abarbanel spoke about the center and its history with Mary-Rose Abraham, senior science writer at UCLA Health. A feature story about the center and its ongoing work follows this conversation.
1974 was a very different time. How did the center start?
Gail Abarbanel: I was a new — and at that time, the only — social worker at Santa Monica Hospital. I was called to the emergency department to see a young woman who had made a suicide attempt. As we spoke, she disclosed that she had been raped by a stranger while she was walking on the beach on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I still remember looking into her eyes. She was overwhelmed by shame. She felt she could not tell anyone. I was profoundly moved by her experience. She truly inspired all that followed. At that time, rape was a hidden crime — surrounded by shame and silence. The few victims who sought emergency care were treated as low-priority patients. While they endured long waits, evidence on their bodies could deteriorate and/or be lost. Care for the profound emotional trauma they had suffered was often not provided. I started thinking about what we should be doing. I was the only social worker in our hospital. I put myself on call 24 hours a day to respond whenever rape victims sought care in our ER. From that day forward, we have always been inspired and guided by what we have learned from them. In 1999, a few years after UCLA purchased Santa Monica Hospital, a gift from a generous donor made it possible for us to establish a dedicated Rape Treatment Center “ER,” an innovative 24-hour emergency care clinic staffed by highly trained nurse practitioners and therapists with state-of-the-art equipment to support expert medical care, forensic services, crisis counseling and advocacy for victims. We later created a specialized clinic to provide their follow-up care. All of the Rape Treatment Center’s services have always been free.
Just a few years after you established the center, Norman Lear, the legendary television producer, called you. He was planning a special episode of his groundbreaking sitcom, All in the Family. What did he ask you?
Abarbanel: Norman asked: “If you could talk to 40 million people about rape, what would you want to say?” I think I was speechless at first! He invited me to spend time with him and the writers. It was a spectacular opportunity, and truly a great honor. They wrote a brilliant script and produced “Edith’s 50th Birthday,” a two-part episode in which the beloved Edith Bunker was the victim of an attempted rape. It was the first show of its kind on television to ever address the issue, and when it aired, in 1977, it started conversations about rape in living rooms across the country. As many other TV shows began to include rape in their storylines, we provided consultation. At one of our early Rape Treatment Center events, the studio executive Sherry Lansing stood up at the end of the program and said, “I’m going to do something.” She produced The Accused, a powerful film about the impact on the victim, and a community, of a brutal gang rape.
You have said that the language used in reporting on rape matters, and that it was very problematic. How so?
Abarbanel: Language matters because it shapes attitudes, beliefs and responses. The issue has been the use of judgmental terminology, often in press coverage, like, “The victim claims she was raped” or “The victim wasn’t really hurt.” This language created suspicion of women who reported being raped and minimized the profound, often invisible, trauma these victims suffer. Many victims remained silent and did not seek help because they feared they would be blamed and disbelieved.
When the Rape Treatment Center began, it provided care primarily for adult victims. Now there is Stuart House, to treat children. How did Stuart House originate?
Abarbanel: High-profile multiple-child-victim cases in the 1980s shined a spotlight on child sexual abuse. As we began to see more child victims, we were inspired to create a new model for their care and treatment. In the traditional child-protection system, these children were taken to multiple agencies in separate locations where they would be re-interviewed in cold, institutional settings — police stations, hospital ERs, prosecutors’ offices — often by people with little or no training in child development or child sexual abuse. There was little collaboration among the involved agencies. And many abused children did not receive needed treatment and support services. Families often felt their children were being more hurt than helped by this system. We were pioneers in what became a national movement when, in 1988, we created our Stuart House, in partnership and with support for innovation from the Stuart Foundation. Stuart House fosters collaboration by co-locating the involved agencies in a single child-friendly setting. It also provides highly specialized, comprehensive state-of-the-art treatment and advocacy services for child victims and their families. It is located on a residential street, outside of the hospital, and has served as a national model. Programs like Stuart House, now known as child advocacy centers, have proliferated throughout the country. In 2012, The Rape Foundation built a larger building for the Stuart House program, which was given as a gift to UCLA to increase its capacity to serve child victims and their families.
What have you learned from victims the RTC has treated?
Abarbanel: Everything. Since its inception, the experiences of rape victims have inspired and informed our services and advocacy efforts. We have learned from them what has needed to be created and what has needed to be changed. As an example, we began to see an influx of first-year college students coming to the Rape Treatment Center when the fall semester began. On many college campuses, rape victims who reported these crimes had no rights or protections in student-conduct codes. The accused students could have their attorney present during disciplinary hearings. Victims could not. Aileen Adams, who was then our legal counsel, and I wrote a book, Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges Should Do. We also produced a film. One of our generous donors funded a national outreach campaign that enabled us to send these resources to every college president in the country. When the Rape Treatment Center was recognized at the White House in 1991, President Bush made special mention of our national campus rape campaign.
How has the work of the Rape Treatment Center influenced the legal system?
Abarbanel: Many laws related to the crime of rape needed to be changed. For example, a UCLA student took a public bus from downtown back to school. She was the only passenger left on the bus when it got to its last stop at the edge of campus. The driver had locked the door. When he came towards her and grabbed her, she froze. She was terrified. He raped her and then let her off the bus. We provided care for her at the Rape Treatment Center. This case was rejected for prosecution because of her “non-resistance.” A common response when a person is terrified is “frozen fright.” At that time, California rape laws included “resistance standards.” Victims had to prove they resisted, and “to the utmost.” Another discriminatory standard in California law required mandatory jury instructions in rape cases: “Rape is a charge easily made and hard to defend against, so examine the testimony of this person (the victim) with caution.” These standards were not applied to any other crime victims. Aileen, our legal counsel, worked with the California State Bar to draft legislation to remove these standards in rape cases. In 1980, the laws were changed.
When did you start to see an increase in drugs being used as a weapon against women in rape cases?
Abarbanel: We began to see a big increase in drug-facilitated sexual assaults in 1997. What were initially called “date-rape drugs” were being used as a weapon to incapacitate victims. At that time, I served on a national committee formed by Attorney General Janet Reno. She came to the Rape Treatment Center to help us launch a national campaign to educate the public about drug-facilitated sexual assaults. She met privately with victims of these crimes before she spoke. She listened to how they had been treated, or mistreated, and how their cases had been handled by law enforcement and prosecutors. She pledged to take action. She launched a national training initiative for law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to address these crimes.
You have recently left the Rape Treatment Center to begin your next chapter. This is work with which you have been engaged for 50 years. You have witnessed a lot of trauma. How do you handle that for yourself?
Abarbanel: By taking action to effect meaningful social change. I truly feel honored to have had the opportunity to create specialized services and innovative programs and partnerships that have made a difference in the lives of so many rape victims and sexually abused children and their families. For five decades, I have witnessed the strength and profound resilience of the human spirit and experienced the kindness and generosity and commitment to community of so many people who have partnered with us and supported the work of the Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House. There is a saying: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” My heart is very full. I am profoundly grateful to all of our partners on this journey. They have made the innovations and achievements of the Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House possible.
