April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. As a member of the Americorps Victim Assistance Program it is amazing to deal with this work day in and day out. I work at the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). I've been here since September and have dealt with many different survivors of both sexual and domestic violence.
For this month, SHARPP planned many events to educate the campus community. Our events have been planned by student committee members, as well as myself. Thus far we've had three events, with a fourth today, and sadly they haven't been nearly as well attended as they should be. Last night we had a great event that was to break myths about sexual assault. Unfortunately we only had 15 people show up.
Being a 23 year old, it is sad to me that so many people turn a blind eye to sexual assault, especially on a college campus. Thus far SHARPP has 104 cases since July 2007, which is just a fraction of the survivors of sexual and domestic violence. 1 in 3 college-aged women and 1 in 7 college-aged men will be or attempt to be sexually assaulted. The United States has the highest number of sexual assaults of any industrialized nation.
I know that I will not be able to eradicate domestic and sexual violence; my hope is that by spreading information around and allowing others to ask me questions we will be able to work together to decrease the number of assaults that happen everyday.
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I believe the 1 in 3 women part, expecially on a college campus where there is so much partying and drinking, but I had absolutely 1 in 7 men were victims as well! I wonder what it is makes the US so bad as far as sexual assault? Is it our society?
Some of it is the culture in which we live. It is often referred to as a rape culture, meaning a social environment where sexual violence is encouraged and supported. I know this may be shocking, but some of it is looking at different types of media, such as music videos, television shows, movies and just everyday interaction among different people. How many times have any of us heard a comment or joke that was sexist or inappropriate, but didn't say anything? There are many instances in which people do respond, but that tends to be when the situation is more extreme, such as a sexual assault. I think if we, as a whole, take the time to realize these comments, jokes and pop culture are not what we think we should be and then voice our opinions about it there could be a difference.