Sexual Assault Awareness Month

By Lily Stuart

Sexual assault is a traumatic experience that can have long-lasting effects on victims, their families, and society as a whole. Every April, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) coordinates the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign to raise awareness about the widespread issue and promote preventative efforts and support for victims. It is essential for prevention and awareness to understand all aspects of sexual violence, including its main causes, its links to inequity, how it impacts survivors, and how to be an ally.

This year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month theme is Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity. This theme calls on all individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions to be aware of ourselves, the systems we exist within, and the relationship these two have with inequity and injustice. Systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and others, contribute to higher rates of sexual violence, assault, and abuse.

Sexual violence is an umbrella term that includes any type of unwanted sexual contact—including sexual assault, harassment, and abuse. It encompasses a large range of behaviors in addition to these, including unwanted sexual contact or touching, sexual exploitation and trafficking, exposing one’s genitals or naked body to others without consent, nonconsensual image sharing, and words and actions of a sexual nature against a person’s will and without their consent.

Sexual assault or violence can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender, or sexual orientation. It can occur anywhere, including at home, school, work, or in public spaces. Often, the perpetrator is someone known to the victim, such as a friend, family member, or intimate partner.

There is also a social context and culture of violence surrounding sexual assault. Social norms that condone brutality, support traditional constructs of masculinity, allow for the subjugation of women, and silence those speaking out contribute to the occurrence of sexual violence.

What the statistics say:

More than 1 in 4 non-Hispanic Black women (29%) in the United States were raped in their lifetime (Basile et al., 2022).
More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime (Rosay, 2016).
1 in 3 Hispanic women (34.8%) reported unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime (Basile et al., 2022).
32.9% of adults with intellectual disabilities have experienced sexual violence (Tomsa et al., 2021).
47% of all transgender people have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives (James et al., 2016).

What is Denim Day?

Denim Day is a campaign run by the organization Peace Over Violence that takes place on a Wednesday in April in observance of SAAM. It was originally created following a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned after the justices determined that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her rapist remove her pants, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence then developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes surrounding sexual assault. This year, 22 years later, Denim Day is on April 26.

Ways to get involved:

The NSVRC calls for connections to be drawn between various forms of oppression and the underlying causes of sexual assault. This month, explore how certain groups of people are at higher risk for sexual violence and how those same people are also the most impacted by inequitable systems and oppression in our society.

In addition to being more conscious community members, awareness can be raised this April by:

Participating in free ambassador training with the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.
Attending a Sexual Assault Awareness Month event.
Emailing [email protected] to request an education program for your school, place of worship, or organization.
Donating to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Taking part in Denim Day 2023!

Additional Resources:

National Sexual Assault Hotline (available 24 hours): 1-800-656-4673