Sexual Assault Awareness Month
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). This year, WCASA is marking SAAM by rolling out a new awareness campaign, which is also the theme for SAAM: Rise to the Challenge.
This campaign asks for us all to get involved in ending sexual violence in our community. While sexual assault impacts individuals, its root causes are interwoven throughout our culture, and therefore to erradicate violence we must all evaluate the prevailing language, attitudes, and cultural beliefs about sex, sexuality, and gender.
Sexual violence takes many forms, including rape, incest, child sexual abuse, stalking, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. These crimes are not committed in dark alleys by strangers so much as they are committed in our schools, our workplaces, our streets and our homes by people we know. The victims are not impersonal stereotypes. They are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends, … and possibly even you and me.
Statistics show us that any random group of three Wisconsin women holds one victim of sexual assault, as does any group of five Wisconsin men. In fact, 93% of sexual assault survivors are violated by someone they know and trust, often times before the age of 15.
Talk to your children now. Talk to your friends now. Talk to your grandparents now. Make sure you address any inappropriate behaviors that you see now. The simple act of speaking up may seem frightening, but it changes the world in ways that you can’t imagine. During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, show your support by wearing a teal-colored ribbon. Wear your ribbon proudly to let others know that you do not accept sexual violence in your community.
The climate that we collectively create around us every day can continue to be one of rape culture – where misogyny, racism, homophobia, and sexist attitudes persist; or it can be transformed into one which supports equality, safety, communication, and embodies a world without violence. It's up to all of us to rise to the challenge every day to bring this new world into being.
Activities for SAAM will be listed here in the near future.
