Como prevenir asalto sexual por medio de la intervención del espectador? by Olive Harvey College Blogger Juan Cordero Vasquez

Tanto hombres como mujeres pueden prevenir el asalto sexual de muchas maneras. Una de las varias maneras de prevenir el asalto sexual es por el medio de la intervención del espectador. Pero que exactamente es la intervención del espectador?

La intervención activa del espectador es un enfoque que nos permite identificar situaciones que puedan terminar en asalto sexual haciendo que la persona intervenga para prevenir algún tipo de asalto sexual.  Tanto hombres como mujeres pueden ser estas personas que se enfocan en prevenir el asalto sexual por medio de observación. Digamos que está en la fiesta de graduación de Universidad de su mejor amiga y el licor está en abundancia. Todas las personas en la fiesta se están poniendo un poco fuera de control pero parece que todos se están divirtiendo. En una de las esquinas del sótano en donde la fiesta está situada nota que su mejor amiga está siendo acorralada por un muchacho que se acerca más y más a ella cada segundo que pasa.  Aparentemente el muchacho está borracho, pero no tan borracho como su mejor amiga. Usted ya tiene una idea de lo que podrá pasar si no interviene a tiempo. Estas sugerencias podrán ser de ayuda en esta situación:

1.      Tome acción a tiempo. La idea es tener tiempo suficiente para intervenir antes de que tu amiga sea otra víctima de asalto sexual.

2.      Llame a un amigo o a un grupo de amigos para que le ayuden a transportar a su amiga a un lugar seguro, lejos de peligro.

3.      Llame alas autoridades si no tiene control de la situación.

4.      No deje su amiga sola por ninguna circunstancia.

5.      Distraiga la situación, haciendo lo que sea posible para que pare al muchacho de seguir el acoso.

How can you prevent sexual assault through bystander intervention? Olive Harvey College- Juan Blogger

Men and women can prevent sexual assault in many ways. One of the many ways it’s Bystander Intervention. But what exactly is Bystander intervention?

Active Bystander Intervention is an approach that encourages people to identify situations that might lead to sexual assault leading that person to intervene in order to prevent the assault from happening. Both men and women could be active bystander interveners. Let’s say you are at your best friend’s college graduation party and the alcohol is in abundance. Everyone is getting a little out of control yet everyone seems to be having a great time. On one of the corners of the basement you notice a guy that is close in distance to your best friend and he’s consistently getting closer and closer while she is literally drunk out of her consciousness. You already know, or might have an idea of what might happen to your best friend if this isn’t stopped right away. Here are some suggestions on what to do in this instance:

 Act in time. The idea is to have enough time to intervene before your friend is yet another victim of sexual assault.


 Call a group of friends or friend at the party to help you get your best friend to a safe place as soon as possible.


 Call authorities if you have no control over the situation.


  Stay by your friend’s side at all times.


 Drift the situation away by doing anything that would disturb the guy from continuing his attempts.

Sexual Assault in the Workplace by Courtney Indiana University

Four years have gone by, faster than I could have ever expected, and I am now a college graduate.  The risk of sexual assault while in college is well known for college women, as it is generally common knowledge that 1 in 4 college women will become a victim of sexual assault during her academic career.  Because of this alarming and realistic statistic, sexual assault preventative resources and services were readily available around my campus, ranging from student run organizations, Greek organizations, philanthropic events and health care services.

                

Now that I am a college graduate and I am preparing for the next stage of my life – becoming a member of the work force, I wonder, are the same sexual  assault resources going to be available to me as a working woman that were available to me as a college student?  In order to find out more, I browsed around the website www.workplacesrespond.org, which is a national resource center that encourages workplaces to respond to domestic and sexual violence. This website is a great resource to learn about sexual and domestic violence within the workplace and to learn how to implement appropriate responses to violence within one’s place of work.

               

  Through out my college experience, the statistic that I stated before (1 out of 4 college women will be a victim of sexual assault while in college) was continuously used as a basis for sexual assault prevention programs and to encourage students to do their part in preventing and spreading awareness about sexual assault.  As I have been in this college bubble for four years, and as difficult as it is to admit, it made it seem as if sexual assault was primarily, if not only, a problem on college campuses.  However, as I have learned and come to realize, that is not at all the case.  According to www.workplacesrespond.org, the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 8% of sexual assaults occur while a victim is working.  While this percentage is not huge, it still opened my eyes to the reality that even now that I am a college graduate, I still face similar fears of sexual violence as I did as an undergraduate college student.

                

I encourage all readers, especially college graduates, to browse over this website in order to learn more about sexual assault within the workplace, and how to implement prevention resources within your future place of work.  Now that we are members of the “real world,” it is our responsibility to continue doing our part to prevent and spread awareness about sexual assault the same way we did as college students.

Ashley Bradley University Blogger-Center for Prevention of Abuse

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Center for Prevention of Abuse, the only agency in Illinois that provides combined services for domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse. Located in central Illinois, it is a safe haven for victims. Some of the sororities on my university’s campus actually donate money and items to this agency as part of their philanthropy. All of the services and items that the Center for Prevention of Abuse provides for its clients are thanks to donations. The types of services they provide include prevention, violence intervention, therapy, advocacy, domestic violence family centered, sexual assault, and senior services. Their main location actually provides emergency and transitional housing for high-risk (or “Priority Level 3”, as they rank those who may be admitted here) clients whose lives are in great danger. Many people will call in for help from this agency, and they provide them with the best resources to help them. They even offer programs for abusers (the Family Violence Intervention Project is connected with the Peoria County Family Justice Center), which will help them learn how to build positive, violence-free relationships. The services offered are very helpful to both victims and abusers to get them back on a positive path in life.

The Center for Prevention of Abuse is very protective of its clients. When it comes to their main facility, people cannot freely walk into the building. One must be buzzed in, or workers have to scan to enter the building and even certain areas within the building. With such high security because of the housing, it makes sense that the agency doesn’t list their address openly on their website. This is a place where survivors can truly feel safe, and I am happy that a place like this exists.

If you would like to know more about the Center for Prevention of Abuse and how you can help, visit their website at www.centerforpreventionofabuse.org.

Sexual Assault Prevention? There’s an app for that!-Courtney Indiana Blogger

As April showers are upon us once again, so is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  What is different about Sexual Awareness month in April 2012 is the publicity of the new free iPhone application called ‘Circle of 6,’ which is an app that was made in effort to prevent and spread awareness about sexual assault.  This app enables you to pick 6 trustworthy friends to put in your safety “circle,” and anytime you feel that you are stuck in an uncomfortable situation or conversation, you can simply press an icon on the app and it will send your location to the members of your circle to come pick you up or call you with a distraction.  The app even gives you instant access to local hotline or emergency numbers in cases when you are in immediate danger.

                I felt so proud of our technology-surrounded generation when I heard about this app.  While I admit to constantly checking up on social networking apps, such as Twitter and Facebook, and challenging my friends to a game of Words with Friends, I find these apps to be a waste-of-space compared to the Circle of 6 app, which I downloaded immediately after finding out about it.  I tend to get frustrated with how technology driven the college-aged generation is, and how at times it seems that the basis of our relationships are surrounded by social networking sites and texting, rather than meeting for coffee or calling each other on the phone.  However knowing that this new app is bringing social networking and sexual assault prevention together while bringing us access to such a powerful and safety-driven app really sheds new light onto the motivations and interests of our generation.  It is amazing that after only two short weeks this app was downloaded by 20,000 iPhone users trying to reduce their risk of becoming a victim of sexual assault.

                Most powerful about this new app is that when I added my 6 trustworthy friends to my circle, I then told them about the app, and then they downloaded the app and added 6 friends to their circle, who then they told their 6 friends about the app, and the cycle of awareness continues.  This app shows how spreading awareness can be as easy as letting a friend know that there is a way to reduce his/her risk of being victimized by sexual assault just by taking a few seconds to download a free app.

                 

The Bystander Approach and the Need for Men’s Help-Indiana Blogger- Courtney

The bystander approach suggests that “individuals in a community can intervene when faced with situations involving interpersonal violence,” and this approach is often used in sexual assault prevention programs (Dick, A., McMahon, S., 2011).  Because interpersonal violence (IPV), in specific physical and sexual assault, and stalking, consists of violence inflicted on women more so than men, recent research has focused on the need of men to be involved in IPV programs.

However, men are less likely to intervene due to socially constructed expectations of what it is to be masculine, which consists of being heterosexual, strong and sexually able. Men may not intervene when seeing or hearing about IPV due to fear other men will think they are homosexual or weak, due to these social norms.

In a study on male’s attitudes of the bystander approach (Dick, A., McMahon, S., 2011) it was found that men do in fact think IPV is a very serious problem, and it is should be the responsibility of men to act on it.  However, the researchers also found that males still express anxiety when talking about actually intervening, which again suggests that cultural definitions of masculinity may make men hesitant in getting involved in IPV prevention programs. 

This study really makes me wonder about our power to change social norms and gendered expectations.  One of my Gender Studies professors constantly emphasizes that because social norms and scripts are socially constructed, we, as a society have the power to change them.  Because more women are sexually assaulted then men, it is viewed as a “woman’s issue,” and thus women are expected to be the ones that are proactive in preventing sexual assault, while similar expectations may men resist intervening in fear of threatening their masculinity.  These social norms are glued to our minds because of the way sexual assault, femininity and masculinity are depicted in our society, and only WE have the power to alter these norms to make the world a better and safer place for both genders to live simultaneously/at the same time.

Men; You Can Help by our Kansas blogger-Chris

It is widely assumed that sexual assault only happens to women.  Pop culture portrays it this way but it couldn’t be further from the truth.  In reality one in ten sexual assault victims is male.  Although this pales in comparison to the numbers you see about female sexual assault, it should be a call to action for men everywhere.  Sexual assault happens and you can help in several ways.

If you are in college you can get involved with the programs at your school.  Check with your school’s involvement center or women’s resource center.  You can help instruct self-defense classes or join a buddy program.  At my school there is a program called JayWalk where volunteers will meet you where you are and walk you to your car at night.  If your school doesn’t have it, make it happen.

If you are out of school you can still help.  Look for organizations in your community that support sexual assault victims.  It could be answering phones on a hot line or accommodating someone at a safe house. 

There is no need to pretend like sexual assault does not happen.  The issue has become taboo and the only people willing to stand up and fight are women when it can happen to anyone.  Men; you can help.  Show your support for both male and female sexual assault victims.  Stand up with the victims and survivors of sexual assault.