In 2009, President Barack Obama declared April Sexual Assault Awareness month. Since then, groups have come together around the country to discuss sexual assault in all contexts. Colorado College is no exception, and this year the college is trying new tactics to tackle this issue.
Several important events are happening this month, including Take Back the Night on April 30. This event allows students to speak openly about their personal experiences.
“This is an opportunity for people to share their own stories within a safe context,” said Heather Horton, Director of the Wellness Resource Center. “That can be a powerful experience.”
Take Back The Night allows survivors to feel in control of their bodies again. “Students can take control back in there lives and say nope I’m not gonna be quiet about this,” said Horton.
Along with Take Back the Night, there are several other activities going on this month. These range from discussion workshops to film screenings that focus on sexual assault across the world. There is also healing yoga once a week throughout the month of April.
Colorado College’s Student Organization for Sexual Safety (SOSS) has been behind many of these events, along with Tara Misra, Colorado College’s Sexual Assault Response Coordinator.
“I’m very excited, actually, about our programs,” Misra said. “We’re trying things a little bit differently this year.”
A first-year in SOSS, Jamie Baum, said, “Sexual assault can happen at any time to anyone. Increasing awareness of how physically and emotionally violating and traumatizing a sexually unsafe experience can be is an important step towards providing support to those that have been effected and towards, ideally, minimizing the abundance of sexual assault and harassment—at least on our college campus.”
This month isn’t meant to exclusively target sexual assault survivors but rather to remind all members of the community that this issue is relevant to them too.
“Historically we’ve heard that [students say they] haven’t had that experience,” Horton said. “[They say] that’s not about me, that’s about those survivors over there.”
Part of sexual assault education is learning about how to help survivors of the experice. Horton said that part of this month is about helping others “recognize connections to their own lives.”
The month of April isn’t only about sexual awareness at Colorado College but also awareness of the issue on a worldwide scale. “We try to focus on how we can create inclusive responses to sexual assault across communities,” Horton said.
Colorado College’s facilities are trying “to help others realize different communities are impacted in different ways,” Misra said. “Part of this month is about trying to incoorporate some international awareness too.”
This is especially important to bear in mind when thinking about different backgrounds that students at CC come from.
“Lots of people have had experiences before even stepping foot on this campus,” Horton said. “And lots of people experience things after coming to college.”
While this month is an important one, it is not the only time the CC community should be focusing on this topic.
“I appreciate April in that it allows for conversations,” Misra said. “But the truth is that we need to be talking about sexual violence in September. For survivors of violence, it’s not really about the month. It’s about their experiences.”
April is not the only month that focuses on such issues. October is domestic violence awareness month, and January is stalking awareness month.
“It’s not surprising that violence really does not take a holiday,” Misra said. “For me every month is sexual awareness month.”