LOUISE HARDER | BOARD MEMBER AND STRATEGIST
April 2020 marks the 19th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. However, people have been advocating for sexual assault awareness and prevention for much longer than that. African American women started a collective action against rape during the civil rights era. In the early 1970’s the first rape crisis centers were established. The Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs was incorporated in 1979 with ten members from around the state. They had been working together to make legislative change, and to mark what was then Rape Awareness Week (now Sexual Assault Awareness Month). In 1994, the first federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed including Rape Prevention & Education (RPE) funding. The 2005 re-authorization of VAWA included the Sexual Assault Services Program. President Obama was the first U.S. President to declare April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in 2009. We have come a long ways, yet still have a ways to go.
At times, it can feel like those of us in advocacy are spinning our wheels. We are screaming for change at the top of our lungs and nothing happens. As someone who works in the field, I often refer to the feeling as a salmon swimming upstream. However, change is possible, as long as we keep screaming.
Our role, this month and every other month, is to prevent sexual violence. This is often misunderstood with the idea of keeping oneself safe, but it is so much more than that. Taking a look at prevention from a public health framework, we need to focus, not only on the individual and interpersonal level, but also the larger policy, societal, and environmental aspects of prevention sexual violence.
Ways that you can work with us to prevent sexual violence include:
- Encouraging children to respect others’ boundaries and bodies
- Improving policies and practices within faith communities, community organizations, workplaces, and schools
- Screening staff and volunteers and train them frequently on signs of sexual assault and grooming
- Creating and passing legislation that supports survivors and improves equitable resources
- Educating people on the facts regarding sexual violence and dispelling the myths
- Creating safe spaces that people feel comfortable disclosing information on an assault
- Supporting organizations, such as The Army of Survivors, financially as they work to prevention sexual violence and advocate for survivors
We hope you will join us this month, and beyond, as we bring awareness to sexual violence in our communities.
