Ending Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is an unacceptable human rights abuse that violates a person’s dignity and fundamental personal integrity, and can leave lasting impacts on people throughout their lives, including family members, communities and generations. It is often related to power and control, and affects women, men, children and gender diverse people of all ages.

The first step to ending sexual violence is prevention. Prevention involves fostering safe environments through safe relationships, behaviors and thoughtful policies. Prevention is everyone’s responsibility. As individuals, we can all support community efforts by supporting healthy relationships and boundaries; teaching students about consent and sex education in schools; challenging images of sexual violence in advertising, pornography, professional wrestling and other media; believing survivors and helping them find resources for support; and volunteering and/or donating to local advocacy centers.

When violence occurs, the second step is responding to the immediate consequences. This can include crisis intervention, providing medical and emotional care to a victim, developing SANE programs to collect better forensic evidence, and creating community education.

A third step is addressing root causes. This includes identifying the social, cultural and structural factors that contribute to violence against women, men, children and gender diverse people. It can also involve promoting the rights of all people to freedom from discrimination and access to justice, and advocating for a strong and just legal system that prosecutes perpetrators of sexual violence.

Many sexual assaults and crimes are committed by someone the victim knows, such as intimate partner sex or acquaintance sex, or by a stranger. In fact, eight out of ten sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim, with some form of coercion, manipulation or intimidation involved. This can be part of the reason why it’s difficult to believe someone who reports that they have been raped.

Survivors of sexual violence can experience long-term physical, emotional and cognitive impacts. They may be traumatized by their sexual assault, experience PTSD, depression or anxiety and struggle with feelings of shame and guilt. They can also suffer from a range of medical conditions, such as chronic pelvic pain, PTSD and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

It is important to remember that it’s not the victim’s fault that they were assaulted. They didn’t ask for it, they didn’t cause it and they did not deserve it. It is also important to understand that sex does not have to be consensual. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. This can be a very confusing time for victims and their families, so it’s important to be supportive of them and help them heal.