Why is April Sexual
Assault Awareness Month?
Martina
Todaro, MA, Research Associate
As a non-profit
that supports community-based
solutions to complex public health challenges through research
and evaluation, ICH partners with local organizations on a variety of relevant projects.
While some are in the traditional realm of public health, others were not until
recently. Homelessness and housing issues are examples of areas that were
outside the sphere of this science before their intersection with health was
widely understood. Most recently, sexual violence has also appeared on the list
of public health issues, and for tragic reasons.
Data
published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012 tells us
that 1 in 5 adult women are raped at some point in their lives. 37.4% of them are
first raped by the age of 24[1] . Let’s
not be misguided by what we’ve become conditioned to believe sexual violence
means (for example, a stranger jumping out of a bush in the middle of the night).
Between 1995-2013, according to the US Department of Justice, 80% of female
survivors knew their perpetrator[2]. While
women are disproportionately victimized if compared to men, individuals with physical
or intellectual[3]
disabilities, regardless of their sex or gender identity, represent a
disturbing 11.5% of victims of sexual violence.
In recent
years, sexual violence prevention efforts have focused on engaging the public
by raising awareness about the magnitude of the problem, and empowering
individuals to be active bystanders. The Obama’s administration sent a clear
message in this regard with the It’s on Us campaign. On a smaller scale, we can
find programs that aim to change the conversation about sexual violence nationwide.
Locally, for example, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provides training on
active bystanding on college campuses, in efforts to advocate for social
responsibility. Similarly, Jane Doe Inc., among other initiatives, engages men
and fathers to promote positive masculinity and prevent teenage boys’ perpetration
of a first sexual assault.
ICH recently
worked with Triangle Inc, a local non-profit that empowers youth and adults
with disabilities to enjoy independent, fulfilling lives in the community.
Through the evaluation of their IMPACT:Ability program, a training on safety
and self-advocacy for special education students in the Boston Public School
system, ICH found increases in participants’ safety and self-advocacy knowledge, their confidence to defend
themselves, their beliefs in their personal abilities, their sense of safety,
and their likelihood to speak up to stop potentially abusive situations. Many
of these changes were shown to be sustained even one year after the students
first participated in the training, when ICH administered a follow-up survey.
We hope that this study paves the road for other
efforts to identify effective, long-lasting interventions enabling individuals,
especially the most vulnerable ones, to recognize and get out of unsafe
situations. Surprisingly, there is not a comprehensive body of literature on
the intersectionality of abuse, including the ones of a sexual nature, level of
ability, gender, and other factors such as race, class, and immigration status.
Our hope is that, by acknowledging their interconnected nature, we can help
ourselves become a more civically engaged, supportive community ready to step
out of our comfort zone to make everyone feel safe.
If you want to know more
about ICH’s IMPACT:Ability study check out: Dryden EM, Desmarais J, Arsenault L. Effectiveness
of IMPACT:Ability to improve safety and self-advocacy skills in students with
disabilities—follow-up study. J Sch Health. 2017; 87: 83-89.