April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Embrace Your Voice

Sexual Assault Awareness Month calls attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every person in this community. The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and educate communities on how to prevent it. Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment harm our community, and statistics show one in five women and one in 67 men will be raped at some point in their lives (Smith et al., 2017). Child sexual abuse prevention must be a priority to confront the reality that one in six boys and one in four girls will experience sexual assault before age 18 (Dube et al., 2005). On campus, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted during their time in college (Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2007).

The theme of this year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign is “Embrace Your Voice”. The campaign informs individuals on how they can use their words to stop sexual violence before it happens by promoting safety, respect, and equality. Our words shape the world around us. Whether you speak out against locker room talk or help someone better understand these issues, your voice is powerful and necessary for this conversation. Individuals can embrace their voices to show their support for survivors, stand up to victim blaming, shut down rape jokes, correct harmful misconceptions, promote everyday consent, and practice healthy communication with kids.

Join NASTY WOMAN WINES along with advocates and communities across the country in taking action to prevent sexual violence. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and each day of the year is an opportunity to create change for the future.

Statistics About Sexual Violence In the U.S.

• One in five women and one in 67 men will be raped at some point in their lives (Smith et al., 2017).

• In eight out of 10 rape cases, the victim knew the person who sexually assaulted them (Black et al., 2011).

• Nearly one in two women and one in five men have experienced sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime (Miller, Cohen, & Wiersema, 1996).

• By the time people were 17 years old, 57 percent of women and 42 percent of men had experienced some form of sexual abuse (Kearl, 2018).

• Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to police (Rennison, 2002).

• Despite misconceptions, the prevalence of false reporting for sexual assault crimes is low - between two percent and 10 percent (National Sexual Violence Resource Center [NSVRC], 2012).

• Forty-six percent of lesbians, 74 percent of bisexual women, 43 percent of heterosexual women, 40 percent of gay men, 47 percent of bisexual men, and 20 percent of heterosexual men reported experiencing sexual violence other than rape during their lifetimes (Black et al., 2011).

• Only 48 percent of men view verbal harassment as sexual assault, and only 67 percent of men say “sexual intercourse where one of the partners is pressured to give their consent” is sexual assault (NSVRC, 2017).

For more information and references for these statistics,  please visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.