WHAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT?

 

Any unwanted sexual contact or attention achieved by force, threats, bribes, manipulation, pressure, tricks, or violence. It may be physical or non-physical and includes rape, attempted rape, incest and child molestation, and sexual harassment. Sexual assault is a crime of violence, anger, power and control where sex is used as a weapon against the victim.

 

Sexual assault can include child sexual abuse, rape, attempted rape, incest, exhibitionism, voyeurism, obscene phone calls, fondling, and sexual harassment.

 

 

WHO IS AT-RISK FOR VICTIMIZATION?

 

• While there is no profile for a person who is at-risk for sexual victimization, some people are at higher risk.

• According to data available, women in Arkansas are at an increased risk for being raped; 96% of people answering yes when asked if they’ve experienced unwanted sexual intercourse were female (BRFSS, 2006). Also, 97% of sexual assault victims served by rape crisis centers funded through the Department of Finance and Administration were female while 3% were male (DFA, 2007).

• The One In Eight Report provides evidence that women of color are at a higher risk victimization. For example, 24% of Native American women were raped at least once during their lifetime, 15.9% of African American women, 13% of Hispanic women, 13.8% Caucasian and 6% of Asian American women (Rape in Arkansas: A Report to the State, 2003).

• The One In Eight Report provides evidence that younger women are more likely to have been forcibly raped at some time in their lives than were older women. Women between the ages of 20-44 had the highest levels of risk for having ever been raped (over 15%), whereas women ages 65 and older had the lowest levels of risk (less than 5%).

 

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TWENTY THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP END SEXUAL ASSAULT

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1. Become educated about the problem of sexual assault and its consequences.   

2. Speak out against attitudes and behaviors that contribute to a culture where violence against women is condoned and often encouraged.

3. Men: Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don’t involve degrading or abusing girls and women.

4. Surveys show that most men who perpetrate violence are supported in their attitudes and behaviors by some of the men close to them. As such, men are in a position to support, or challenge, other men’s pro-violence attitudes and behaviors. Don’t let your silence imply permission.

5. There are no innocent bystanders. Speak up and challenge those who would commit acts of sexual assault.

6. Believe and support victims of sexual assault. Show survivors that you hold offenders, not victims, accountable for the crime.

7. Encourage young people to use non-violent means to resolve conflict and learn strategies of cooperation and collaboration.

8. Support organizations in your community that provide services to sexual assault victims.

9. Teach healthy relationships. Teach that no means no.

10. Dispel the myths surrounding sexual assault that put the burden of responsibility on the victim and excuses the offender.

11. Invite your local rape crisis center representative to make a presentation to your group, school or organization.

12. Support legislation that promotes and protects the rights of all individuals to live free from fear of personal violence, i.e. sex trafficking, pornography, stalking, sexual solicitation of minors, sexual harassment.

13. Take responsibility as a parent to talk to your children about sex and healthy relationships, be aware of the negative influences in our culture (music, radio/TV, movies, internet) that tend to demean or devalue women and girls and take steps to counter.

14. Instill the values of dignity and respect for all people and cultures.

15. Challenge gender roles that place girls and women at risk.

16. Support harsh penalties for perpetrators of all sexual assault crimes.

17. Recognize and speak out against media that creates a toxic cultural environment in which sexual violence is encouraged, i.e. advertisements that glorify and encourage the objectification of women. “Turning a human being into a thing is the first step towards committing violence against that person.” Dr. Jean Kilbourne

18. Make sure your institution, organization or business has policies, practices and procedures relating to sexual harassment. For example, a lack of policies in the workplace can send a message that sexual harassment is tolerated, and that there may be few or no consequences for those who harass others.

19. Violence is a choice. Hold those who make that choice accountable.

20. Teach risk reduction to your children, while realizing that the burden of responsibility for a person’s actions rest upon the shoulders of the person making the choice whether or not to commit a crime.

 

 

OUR MISSION

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Our mission is to promote and nurture individuals in areas of education, economic and community development, healthcare issues, public safety and race relations.

 

The Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits was created to assist victims of violent crimes and terminal illnesses and their affected families to improve the quality of their economic and social environment, transition back into the workforce and to provide for self-sufficiency.

 

Women’s Council on African American Affairs, Inc. (WCAAA) provides minority college students, student’s grade 6th-8th, parents and professionals in area schools in Jefferson and Clark Counties with a sexual assault prevention and educational services program with the following clearly defined goals:

 

GOAL 1: Provide evidenced-based sexual assault prevention educational awareness services to high school students.

GOAL 2: Provide evidenced-based sexual assault prevention educational awareness services to college students.

GOAL 3: Provision of evidenced-based sexual assault prevention educational services to high school and college students in Pulaski, Clark and Jefferson Counties.

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DID YOU KNOW?

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• Eighty-four percent (84%) of all sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance of the victim. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, 1992   

• Sexual violence remains the most dramatically under-reported crime, with an estimated two-thirds of attacks unreported. (American Medical Association. 1996).

• A study of sexual assaults among college students found that 73% of the assailants and 55% of the victims had used drugs, alcohol, or both immediately before the assault. (AMA. Sexual Assault in America. November 6, 1995).