By: Hannah Ford
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the University of Arkansas Sexual and Relationship Violence Center, along with many other programs, has a month’s worth of events for all to attend.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, around one in five women and one in 71 men are victims of rape.
The 2019 “Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct” found sexual assault and misconduct at 33 of the nation’s major universities was almost one in four undergraduate women.
Rape and sexual assault have recently been widely acknowledged to be common yet still largely under-reported. According to the World Health Organization, sexual violence had been described as a global health problem on an epidemic scale.
According to the University of Arkansas Police Department 2019 Clery Report, nine rapes were reported on the U of A campus, and two rapes were reported off campus.
In the same report in 2018, there were 11 rapes reported on campus.
University of Arkansas Police Captain Gary Crain said that the majority of the rapes cases from the past three years on campus were people 19 years old.
“All the crime reports from on campus were either at a resident’s hall or a fraternity house,” Crain said.
Crain said that the rapes were usually following a social activity with people who are acquaintances. Crain said all of the victims reported in the last three years were women.
To raise awareness for this issue, Felicity Johnson, Graduate Assistant for the Sexual and Relationship Violence Center, and other organizers have planned a month long of events for students and others to join.
“Each week in the month of April will be focused towards different aspects of sexual violence,” Johnson said.
The first week will consist of events geared towards awareness and understanding. Before anyone can understand the effects of sexual violence, they must know the definition of consent.
By definition, consent is permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. When it comes to sexual violence, consent must be verbal and understood by both parties.
The Sexual Assault Awareness Month Consent Fair will be hosted April 5 through 9. This will focus on what consent is and how to know if your partner is giving you consent.
The week of April 12 through 16, the events will focus on healing and support.
“I’m most excited about the guided hike at Lake Fayetteville,” Johnson said. “It’s going to have this mindfulness activity theme and there will be quotes from survivors and reflections from them.”
The final week of the awareness events will be April 19 through 30. This week will focus on action and advocacy.
The “Take Back the Night” event is a tradition at the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will officially recognize the event with a proclamation.
Following the proclamation, there will be various events such as featured speakers, a Speak Out, a moment of silence and more at this advocacy in action event.
A famous exhibit that originated at the University of Arkansas will be on display from April 16 through 23.
The “What Were You Wearing?” exhibit is meant to bring truth to the popular myth surrounding sexual violence and victim blaming. The exhibit was created by staff of the Sexual and Relationship Violence Center and was first displayed on campus in April 2014. Just a few years later, the campus exhibit became a world phenomenon.
In another way to try to spread awareness to the issue of sexual violence, the bell at Old Main will go off every 73 seconds for one hour of the day. This represents the statistic that in every 73 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted.
“I think this just really brings a light to how often this kind of assault happens,” Johnson said. “Most people don’t realize just how prevalent this is, and that bell going off will really bring it to life.”
ThingLink on the events around campus for Sexual Assault Awareness Month:
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1436011484969697282