The beginning of April marks the kickoff of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about recognizing, preventing and taking action against sexual assault.
The University of Wisconsin’s student organization Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment is hosting several events to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness month and make the issue relevant to the student community.
PAVE mainly looks at the social and cultural aspects that lead to sexual assault and works to create a “sex positive” campus where people can learn about consent, PAVE Interim Chair Aly Jarocki said.
This year, PAVE is primarily focusing on the slant with which sexual assault and violence are portrayed in the media, Jarocki said. She said the main issue with this portrayal is the “blame the victim” approach.
Jarocki said PAVE wants students to move away from thinking about sexual assault in such a mindset and rather toward promoting a social environment where the crime simply does not occur. This primary prevention, she stressed, is a more productive way to address the issue.
PAVE’s first event in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness month will be held Thursday evening with UW student a cappella groups Fundamentally Sound and Pitches and Notes. Jarocki said she hopes this social event will shed light on the situation and raise awareness about the importance of consent.
PAVE will also be hosting a “Day of Unity” to promote open discussion about sexual assault and provide support for victims, as well as a reading discussion titled “Impact of Pornography,” to explore ways in which pornography impacts the perception of sexual assault.
These events will culminate at the end of the month with speakers Zerlina Maxwell and Chloe Angyal, “feministing” bloggers who will be talking about media issues relevant to those PAVE has been exploring throughout the year, Jarocki said.
“The issue is that a lot people don’t like to talk about [sexual assault] or are afraid to talk about it because they feel as though there’s nothing they can do about it,” Jarocki said. “The more people know, the more they can do.”
Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault will be hosting a day of events at the end of the month as well, bringing together survivors and supporters to talk about the issue and culminating in a “wrap around” of the Capitol.
At the event, any and all supporters of the cause will encircle the Capitol building linking themselves with strings of denim, a fabric representative of violence prevention, Stephen Montagna, spokesperson for Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault said.
This exercise serves as a symbolic gesture of the number of people both impacted by sexual assault and working toward ending sexual violence, Montagna said.
“Sexual assault remains one of the most underreported crimes in the country because in many instances it is difficult to recognize when an action has crossed the line into sexual assault,” Montagna said.
Montagna drew attention to the high instances of sexual assault among college students nationally, pointing to society for reinforcing the mentality that sexual assault is acceptable in many cases and desensitizing people to sexual violence.
He said it is important to know that most reported cases of sexual assault involve a friend or acquaintance of the victim- not a complete stranger.
College years are a good time to promote more productive kinds of social behavior, Montagna said, and she urged students to really understand what “consent” is.
