Abigail Shimniok

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, and this is the 23rd year that the nation has been providing awareness and prevention to sexual assault and other acts of violence.
Sexual assault is defined as “sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include attempted rape, fondling or unwanted sexual touching, forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body and penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape,” as defined by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
According to the Sexual Violence Resource Center, “In the United States, movements for social change and equality began to gain traction in the 1940s and 50s with the civil rights era … The first rape crisis center was founded in San Francisco in 1971, the same city where the first U.S. Take Back the Night event was held seven years later.”
In 1993, the Violence Against Women Act was signed to help end domestic violence and sexual assault against women. The VAWA helped with prevention of rape and funding victim services for survivors as reported by the Legal Momentum.
RAINN reports that women that are in college are three times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault. “Among undergraduate students, 26.4% of females and 6.8% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation … 5.8% of students have experienced stalking since entering college.”
People can help prevent sexual assault by being aware of their surroundings and being an active bystander and helping those that look to be in trouble. This could be helping someone who had been drinking get home or when rape is being used a topic of a joke to end the joke and explain why it is not funny to joke about those topics.
Take Back the Night is held during April to help end sexual violence. UW-Platteville held Take Back the Night on April 16 in the Markee Pioneer Student Center by “supporting, empowering, and remembering survivors of sexual violence. Experience testimonials, guest speakers, a candlelight vigil and participate in a campus walk to advocate for the end of sexual violence.”