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| THE GOODNEWS IS THAT VIOLENCE IS PREDICTABLE AND IT IS PREVENTABLE!! |
Sexual violence is actually any form of sexual contact or
exposure without consent. Any kind of contact or exposure typically means oral,
anal, and vaginal without the consent of the person or any forced sexual
activity.#africa4her
Rape, by legal definition, is forced penetration. And so that's
actually when...
penetration occurs. And we talk about completed rape and
attempted rape. Sexual assault is a broader term that includes any type of
sexual act, any type of activity without consent. And that can be when a person
clearly says no or also when they're unable to give consent due to the use of
drugs or alcohol.
Sometimes you hear terms like marital, spouse, date or
acquaintance rape, and that's really talking about the relationship to the
perpetrator. So it's telling you how the perpetrator is related to the person.
We often sort of think of these as not as important, not as significant as we
do the bigger picture but more rapes and sexual assaults happen “WITH A
PERPETRATOR THAT'S KNOWN” rather than the stranger.
Drug facilitated sexual assaults is another thing we talk
about, and actually, people talk a lot about protecting their drinks and get
really worried about drug in their drinks, but the most common part of the drug
is actually alcohol. And “SO WE REALLY NEED TO WATCH HOW MUCH ALCOHOL,” more
than that we're protecting the alcohol. Roofies or Rohypnol is one of the most
common. GHP is another one. And these drugs actually do produce relaxation, deep
sedation, disinhibition and amnesia. So the person wakes up the next morning, not
really sure what happened, what went on and it's because of the drug and they
usually quickly moving through the system, so unless you get in pretty quickly,
the test will come back negative for being there.
So how often does this occur? We often hear in college
campus there is this 1 in 4 adult women. We talk about 1 in 5. But we also talk
about it happened in men. 1 in 70 men also experience sexual violence and
sexual assault. When, in actuality, both women and men are both survivors and
offenders. Most commonly occurring age is that younger age, 18-24, sometimes
16-24. And that's actually the age that you see people on college campuses, but
it's also the age that people enter into the military, which is another
commonly occurring place that we see this.
Most of the time, as I said, it is perpetrated by someone
you know, so a man you know, a woman you know, perpetrates this. And rape,
sexual assault is actually the most underreported crime. Most women don't report
the crime stats, so the reports we see from the police are majorly inaccurate. And
even more, men don't report, and that's something of a stigma of sexual
violence.
Commonly reported barriers, a lack of recognition that it
was a crime. Not thinking of it as something that was criminal stops us from reporting.
A need for confidentiality and wanting to avoid public disclosure. Another
barrier, concern that you have to prove that a crime occurred. You're not
really sure it's a crime, then how can you prove that it's occurred. Especially
if you know the person, you went with them willingly. So all these things stop people
from tell someone from reporting. Other factors include a fear that they might
experience a loss of sensitivity when you report it. Barriers that also occur
at institutional level, often times, when someone comes forward, some places
require them to participate in adjudication process or hearings processes on campus,
which is a real deterrent.
When we think about our prevention programs, we often talk
about how to avoid getting sexual assaulted or how to avoid rape, which does
send a message of that IT'S MY FAULT AND VICTIM-BLAMING!! And so that makes it
harder sometimes for people to come forward. As well as, the drug and alcohol policies
that exist on campuses. Often, they're very strict and have strict
consequences, so coming forward to say that I was sexually assaulted while
drinking means that I could also get in trouble for drinking. Despite people
reporting, not reporting, health consequences occur after sexual violence.
Initially we see injuries, so that is genital, genital
injury. There's bruises, there's cuts, there's tears. The fear of STI, fear of
pregnancy are really big things that occur for people wanting to make sure they
don't have a sexually transmitted infection. Wanting to make sure they're not
pregnant. Physically, we see long-term difficulty. Changes in sleeping, changes
in appetite, headaches, back aches fatigue. Chest pain, abdominal pain, nausea,
vomiting, shortness of breath dizziness can all occur. Emotionally, people, really
during the time of sexual assault, fear physical violence, fear death. So
whether or not that there was a weapon or not, people are afraid for their
lives, and afterward, that fear can persist. Embarrassment over what happened,
feeling it was my fault. Decreased self-esteem also is very common. From a mental
health perspective, we often see anxiety, depression, PTSD, alcohol use,
substance use, this is a major crisis, a major traumatic event. And it's a major
assault on the body, the body reacts in a multitude of ways, and this often
lasts a long time. In part because of the shame, because of the guilt, because
we don't talk to people about it. So this experience of trauma triggers intense
emotions and really does make for some disintegrating effects on the mind.
Anger is very common. Anger against the perpetrator. Anger against fate that it
happened to me, feeling betrayed. And ironically, rage can often be the key to
healing, and tapping into that anger can be helpful. Guilt and shame as I said,
complicate the experience of depression. Sometimes we see sex related
consequences. Feelings of repulsion, a lack of pleasure with sex. And a compulsive
promiscuity, what happens often is that people will say it's almost not
consciously, but this idea of someone took it from me once, and no one's ever
going to take it from me again. So I'd rather give it away first, than have to
deal with it ever being taken from me again. Obviously, this sets people up
then for problems with intimacy, betrayal, feeling like it's really hard to
trust others. AND ACADEMICALLY, WHAT WE SEE IN STUDENTS HAVE DECREASED
CONCENTRATION, INABILITY TO ATTEND CLASSES, MAJOR CHANGES, AND DISRUPTIONS IN
LIFE ROUTINE.
So it affects people in multitude of ways, so with this
being such a huge problem that affects so many people, WHAT ARE WE DOING TO
STOP IT? WHAT ARE WE DOING TO CHANGE THIS?
So our prevention strategies typically take three major
approaches. One is to target potential survivors, the other's targeting
potential offenders, and the other is looking at the larger community for
community-based change. Many of our programs focus on potential survivors, and
so we really talk about how do you avoid victimization. What are the things
that women, particularly, can do to not be victimized? And this approach is
problematic.
It promotes these victim-blaming attitudes. It's often setup
from a stranger danger place too. Don't walk alone at night. Use the call
button. Call the cops. Those kinds of things, which isn't really about the
person from your chemistry class or your friend's friend or any of that kind of
stuff. Places the owners and the survivor for what happens to them. And there's
little emphasis on the perpetrator, who is the person who did it. For their
behavior, as well as the friends in who witnessed it. The people who were
around when we think about what happens in college campuses. We often it's very
social environment. Everybody lives on campus, so there's a lot of there's
often witnesses and people who are around.
Another approach is targeting offenders. This has gained
limited traction. We've seen it on the social media websites where people like,
you know, teach your sons not to rape. Teach your daughters not to rape, that
kind of thing, but we don't have as many of those type programs. The programs
that do exist focus on teaching empathy and helping people to empathize with
victims. And to understand that experience so that then they're less likely to
do this.
And then the last
strategy's targeting bystanders, and those are friends and witnesses. As I said
sexual assault often happens at a party, social scenes dormitories where lots
of people are living, so they are often people around and people who could see.
So this is a strategy that's really catching on, that's really the thing the “WHITE HOUSE REPORT ACTUALLY SUGGESTED THAT
PEOPLE USE BYSTANDER-BASED APPROACHES.” On the bigger college campus
though, until we can stop sexual violence from occurring, we have to remember
that the needs of survivors are pretty huge. And medically needs, their legal
needs and psychological needs as well. Medical needs is that early detection,
management of injuries. Student health can do this as well as local hospitals. And
having policies, protocols for how we get people the help they need. Screening
and treatment for sexually transmitted infections can be also important. Provision
of emergency contraception can be an important need of survivors. And so
figuring out how we get that.
Legal interventions, often
the police are called, but that includes the evidence collection. That's that
rape kit that people talk about. Sexual assault nurse examiners or SANE nurses
are often people who do this. They collect all this evidence from the survivor.
They take the pictures. They document in a legal way. And that can be very
helpful for any cases that come forward, both on the campus as well as on the
legal system. And they can provide court testimony for these as well. One
problem though, is that sexual assault nurse examiners are not in all of our
hospitals and not in all of our EDs. And so thinking about a way to get those services
there could be very helpful. Psychological interventions include crisis
intervention, referral for support and follow-up treatment. And when we think
about this we're referring to rape crisis lines, to hotlines, to the counseling
centers both on campus, off campus. And we're all thinking about it from a
campus resource place but also a community resource place.
And so what are the things that exist within our communities
that then help. Campus protocols are usually defined about how we respond to
survivors, and it's often essential because we want to ensure consistency in
how they are treated, so you don't want it to be that if I tell someone in the
residence hall, this happens, if I go to student health, this happens. If I go
to my dean, this happens. But there's a consistency in approach. Typically, a
team approaches what's used. And so, that then protects the survivor from
having to tell the same story over and over again. And it also coordinates the
resources. So if housing is on board, then housing helps. If someone from
academics is on board, then they can make sure those needs are met. We also
know from research that survivors also feel, often feel secondary victimization
when seeking help in the legal system. And that's having to tell your story
over and over again, can feel equally as traumatic as what happened in the
first place. So many people recognize that, and that's that whole point of
doing the team approach, so you only have to say things once. And then also
having that investigative model. So you're talking once to an investigator and not
having to relive the situation over and over again.
So we've talked today about sexual violence, we've reviewed
some definitions, some statistics on how often it occurs. We've talked about
how, the health consequences related to sexual violence, how campuses are
working to prevent it. In particular, we spent more time talking about bystander-based
approaches for preventing it, and then we looked at some of the policies and
procedures. How campuses are meeting the medical needs, the physical needs, the
psychological and legal needs of our survivors. So thank you very much for your
attention.
Strategies to prevent violence that I posted here, as we can
see, is used in USA, but probably in some part of Africa who are more civilized
than my country, it is commonly used too. In all my days as a student in
Primary, Secondary, and University here in Nigeria, I never got a school manual
that brought my awareness to the fact that Gender Base Violence (GBV), have
preventive measures in my school (I am just speaking for myself please). Now, same
preventive measures can also be used in our land here in Africa, if our own
School Professors, in conjunction with our Government and its Security, Human
right commissions, Gender Based Violence nonprofits, young Africa leaders who
advocate for GBV, all put hands and heads together to see such policies and
procedures are enforced in our own colleges, and community.
I am sharing this lecture to my fellow YALI Network members,
so they can read it, digest it, think about it, and come back here to share
whatever solution they feel should be used to solve the problems of GBV in our
community, schools, and the military. We can also help prevent and protect our
young Africa girls from sexual assault violence. YES WE CAN!!!
Source is from one of my facilitators, when I was doing a 6
weeks course on “Understanding Violence” with Emory University Atlanta GA, a
program managed by COURSERA(I knew coursera via YALI Network awareness about
available online courses we YALI members can take advantage of). “Angela Amar, is an associate professor
Emory University. Angela teaches in the nursing school, and she’s the assistant
dean for undergraduates. Her research is about violence in young women,
particularly sexual assault in college campuses. She is interested in reporting
as well as policies and procedures on college campuses related to reporting.”
To verify my course certificate on Understanding Violence:- https://www.coursera.org/account/accomplishments/verify/LQXRR7DSG7
Follow us @pocarlee @swaggnewsafrica
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Young African Leaders Initiative @YALINetwork or join the Network at https://youngafricanleaders.state.gov/ or follow the group on facebook "Yali Netwok face2face"
Email: swaggnewsafrica@gmail.com
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