Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month has flown by! I am really excited to share that I was invited to join an incredible data jam on protecting students from sexual assault at the White House on April 11th. I was able to join other professionals from around the country to discuss the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses and together finding solutions. Our goals were to combine our knowledge of sexual assault and our technological resources to develop tools to ultimately reduce and eliminate sexual assault on college campuses.
First let me just say how honored I was to be invited to such an event. I was surrounded by a variety of talented professionals, including survivors and other students who all shared an eagerness and passion to make a contribution to ending sexual violence. It was really empowering to be a part of such an important movement that our country is finally putting in the spotlight.
1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted during her time in college.
This number, in my opinion, is actually lower than the real facts. I am about to graduate college and I have seen enough around me in my four years as an advocate and as a student to know the harsh realities of sexual assault. We are taught to stay silent. We are taught that it is the victim's fault. We are taught that it was our clothes that justified an assault. We are taught that there is no one who will really help us.
At the data jam, we discussed the issues that colleges are facing now to address sexual violence appropriately. Title IX came up in conversation when a survivor spoke about her experience with her Title IX coordinator and showed us the extremely complicated map of the process she had to go through to file a complaint and receive the assistance she needed. It is absurd to see what students have to go through after already being victimized by their assailant and to then be victimized by their own institutions.
But that was just ONE of the many issues discussed concerning sexual assault on college campuses. From my perspective as someone involved in prevention work, legislation is one wonderful step towards ending sexual violence, but changing our culture is the biggest and hardest step. Ultimately, we need to change the rape culture that allows such crimes to persist and encourages all to stay silent.
The White House Task Force To Protect Students From Sexual Assault (quite a mouthful, huh?) was formed in January of this year to address these issues that students face at their institutions regarding the justice and efforts they deserve. The task force then created a website called Not Alone where students and schools can find all sorts of resources on the subject.
The teams we developed at the data jam are working on some really amazing ideas and projects, so stay tuned for updates in the next few months!
For more information, check out Stop the Hurt's Facebook page with videos and articles!
Do your part and stop the hurt.
