SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – April used to be known as the month that brought showers for May flowers. Now it has a new meaning. For 21 years, April has been known as Sexual Assault Awareness month.
“We think that every day and every month, there needs to be sexual assault awareness opportunities, because sexual assault is so prevalent in our community and in our nation and in our world,” Randi Bregman, co-executive director of the Vera House, said.
Chris Kosakowski, the campus team coordinator for the Vera House, coordinates all the work for nine college campuses in the Syracuse area. At the Vera House, he runs a hybrid team that does prevention, education and direct service advocacy work for students, victims and survivors.
“In the month of April, we really tried to highlight the impact that sexual assault has on folks,” Kosakowski said. “What that really is, is looking at how prevalent and normalized these issues are in our society and our culture.”
Kosakowski said that having a month for sexual assault awareness is beneficial because by raising awareness, people will be able to know where to turn to for support and resources.
Bregman has worked with the Vera House for 31 years. She said there are many ways for people to show their support.
“One is I would always say start by believing survivors, except them when they share their truth and don’t feel a need to critique and challenge their truth when they share it,” Bregman said.
In regard to the controversy of false reporting, Bregman said that they do not act as a judge or jury for any cases and the statistics on false reporting show generally 2-8% of reports being false while 92-98% of reports are true.
“We respect the civil and criminal justice process, but as victim advocates, we think it is critical to believe survivors who come to us,” Bregman said. “Often the most painful part of survivors’ experience has been not being believed when they first disclose.”
As for prevention, Bregman said that it is important that society creates a community and culture where sexual assaults and violence are not as easy to commit by challenging language, comments and jokes diminishing women.
Rachel Henderson, a campus educator and advocate for Vera House, said a way that people can start showing their support during this month is to have a conversation on the impact of sexual assault.
“But I think the best way to get involved is really to just go start these conversations with your friends, your family and your peer groups,” Henderson said. “It’s a tough conversation to have and a lot of people don’t recognize, like, don’t know how to start those conversations. But it’s an important conversation to have.”
Kosakowski said that there is a lot of intersection between sexual assault and other forms of violence and harm.
“So if we’re talking about preventing sexual violence, we also have to talk about how are we addressing and preventing other forms of harm, like racism and sexism and homophobia, transphobia, because all of these issues are rooted in power and control how a person chooses to take power away from someone and control their actions with their behaviors,” Kosakowski said.
He said it is important to talk about all the factors together in order to have a world free of violence.
“It happens everywhere. And based on statistics, it is very likely that everybody knows somebody who has experienced sexual assault or some sort of sexual violence,” Henderson said. “So I think it’s best to start these conversations and it’s really best to educate yourself as well.”
Henderson said that a way to start conversations about sexual assault would be by challenging social norms.
“Things like jokes about rape, violence against women, and other forms of oppression. Start conversations with your friends/family/peers to make sure they are educated about what domestic and sexual violence is, what the warning signs are and what resources are available in the community,” Henderson said.
For the remainder of the month, the Vera House will continue to update its social media with messages about spreading awareness of sexual assault.
