Flip the Script with EAAA®

Growing up, young women and girls are often taught to believe that they are responsible for preventing an assault. They are taught to fear stranger assault and are told to monitor where they go, what they do and what they wear in order to keep themselves safe. At the same time, they’re also taught to believe they aren’t strong enough to fight back against someone who is trying to hurt them.

We know that all of this is wrong.

The Flip the Script with EAAA® program explores how traditional stereotypes and sexual-harm myths – like the ones above – are harmful to women and girls. It aims to educate women on the facts of sexual harm, affirm in them that sexual harm is never their fault, equip them with the tools to resist sexually coercive men, and empower them to stand up for their needs and desires.

Let’s flip this social script for women.

Did you know that one in five young women will experience sexual assault while at university? And one in three women over the age of 15 will experience physical violence from a partner, ex-partner, family member or someone known to them.

Flip the Script with EAAA® holds perpetrators completely accountable and solely responsible for their behaviours and actions. It makes it clear that there is no risk of sexual harm in any situation unless there is someone present who is willing to be sexually coercive.

The program focuses on resistance, not prevention. Women can't prevent someone from trying to harm them, but they can fight back when prepared with the confidence and tools to do so.

For more information, see the SARE Centre website.

What will I learn?

This program is based on the Enhanced Assess Act Acknowledge (EAAA) curriculum – a 12-hour sexual assault resistance education program created by Dr Charlene Senn at the University of Windsor. It has four sections; each of them is three hours in length.

ASSESS – Your environment for risk cues of sexual harm

With Assess, we begin by examining risk factors for sexual harm and cues that we might read, from the environment or from someone else’s behaviour, that indicate increased risk. We’ll explore ways we can be attuned to risk without compromising our sense of freedom.

ACKNOWLEDGE – Your right to protect your safety and wellbeing

Acknowledge is about identifying the barriers that make it difficult for us to resist when someone is being coercive. While most of us feel we have the right to fight back if a stranger were to attack us, it can be a lot harder, on an emotional level, to fight back when the person who is being coercive is someone we know. This section of the program will help you identify and overcome these barriers while being mindful of your broader social and emotional goals.

ACT – To defend your body and boundaries

Act will provide you with a range of verbal and physical strategies for keeping yourself safe if someone tries to hurt you. We will teach you strategies that are evidence-based and tailored to women’s experiences. Our goal is to give you as many options as possible for resisting, so you can choose the ones that feel right for you.

ENHANCE – Your relationships by knowing your desires and preferences

Enhance is about examining our own personal desires and boundaries so we can express them in our personal relationships. We know that when women have had the opportunity to contemplate their sexual preferences, they are in a better position to quickly recognise sexually coercive behaviour that doesn’t reflect their choices.

How effective is the program?

The results of a randomised controlled trial conducted by the SARE Centre were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015. Women who took EAAA experienced a 46% reduction in completed rape and a 63% reduction in attempted rape in the following year compared to women in the control group. Other forms of sexual violence were also significantly reduced. Reductions in sexual assault continue to be evident two years later.

Other studies have also examined the effectiveness of the program in more recent years, affirming the positive effects of its implementation in universities.

Who can participate?

The Flip the Script with EAAA® program is designed specifically with university-aged women in mind, but it’s open to all women. This doesn’t mean non-binary, gender-fluid, or other gender-diverse folks can’t attend – the content just might not feel as meaningful. The program looks at women’s experiences, and specifically the social norms that young women face: the pressures around being nice, or not making a scene.

While we recognise that men and people who do not identify as women can and do experience sexual harm too, evidence shows that women are significantly more likely than others to have these experiences. This program focuses on empowering women to resist sexual coercion and helps them identify the support available to them if they do experience forms of sexual harm.

If you’d like to chat about this further, you can reach out to us at edi@monash.edu. The SARE Centre is currently working towards an adaptation of the Flip the Script with EAAA® program for transgender and non-binary people. If you’re interested in learning more, contact the SARE Centre.

What’s included?

This program is free for students and includes:

• a tailored women’s empowerment self-defence class
• participant resource kits and merchandise
• a certificate of completion
• catered lunches and snacks.

What’s the time commitment?

This semester, workshops will run over two consecutive Saturdays, from 10am to 4.30pm.

Upcoming sessions in 2026

There are two program blocks available this semester – one at Clayton and one at Caulfield. You only need to register for one block, but you must attend both days within that block to successfully complete the program.

Block 1 will take place at Clayton campus during Weeks 6 and 7 on:

• Saturday 5 September, 10am–4.30pm
• Saturday 12 September, 10am–4.30pm.

Block 2 will take place at Caulfield campus during Weeks 9 and 10 on:

• Saturday 3 October, 10am–4.30pm
• Saturday 10 October, 10am–4.30pm.

Block 3 will take place during Week 8 on:

• Tuesday 16 September, 12.30 – 3.30pm
• Thursday 18 September, 12.30 – 3.30pm
• Saturday 20 September, 10am – 4.30pm.

This program is also great to do with friends, so encourage them to join you and experience the program together!

Register now

Student testimonials

Participant in semester one, 2025

Even if it's kinda confronting at times, by the end, you really do feel stronger and more prepared to protect and advocate for yourself and what you want.

Participant in semester two, 2024

I would definitely recommend signing up! The practical self defense techniques were useful but I also found the activities outside of that – learning danger cues, reflecting on your boundaries, etc. – helpful too.