Shining a light on sexual assault awareness

Five years ago, at the height of the #MeToo movement I wrote a column about why victims don’t tell and I referenced my own story when I was a young lady still in high school.

On Friday, during the community resources meeting, as I listened to Crisis Prevention and Response Center Director Karina Rice discuss the fact that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month it reminded me of that column and how often we attempt to blame the victim.

Rice provided a pie chart completely shaded in baby blue and the key on the pie chart listed “Causes of Rape” as orange – short skirts (no orange in the pie chart), yellow – alcohol (no yellow on the chart), deep dark blue – flirty behavior (no dark blue on the pie chart), turquoise – walking alone (no turquoise on the pie chart), red – television (no red indicated on the pie chart). Baby blue – rapists, chart was entirely baby blue in color.

It doesn’t matter what a person wears, drinks, thinks, none of that gives anyone the right to sexually abuse, assault, harass another person. It is NEVER the victim’s fault.

I remember in college when I was a member of a Christian group and whenever the discussion of temptation came up the Christian men seemed to always blame the women. We shouldn’t wear perfume or dress a certain way if it was going to tempt a man. It bothered me then that a Christian man somehow wanted to blame me for his inability to thwart temptation.

It bothers me even more now. I considered the man a friend but I have to admit after that I lost a lot of respect for him.

According to Rice in 2022 in the United States there a sexual assault every 68 seconds and every nine minutes that victim is a child.

Victims of sexual assault can be of any gender, can be inmates, children, military personnel, of any age.

There were 433,648 reported sexual assaults or rapes in 2022. Statistics also show that 25 of every 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison.

Rice pointed out that the number of sexual assaults reported are likely a small portion of the actual number of cases as many do not go reported.

I thought about whether or not to write another editorial about this issue, but then I realized this is something we need to talk about, often, so victims do not feel alone, so that victims feel heard.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “Even before its official declaration, SAAM was about both awareness and prevention of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse.” Looking at the history of the movement to end sexual violence, it’s clear why: It’s impossible to prevent an issue no one knows about, and it’s difficult to make people aware of a problem without providing a solution. The two work in tandem, and they always have.

Each SAAM campaign has the same common goals: to raise visibility about sexual assault and share how it can be prevented, whether that’s through education about healthy sexuality, consent, or bystander intervention, according to the NSVRC.

Having Sexual Assault Awareness Month every year ensures that the victims are not forgotten and that the conversation, education and hopefully prevention can continue.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, abused or harassed call law enforcement or Crisis Prevention and Response Center. You don’t have to go through it alone.