The National Sexual Violence Resource Center encourages all individuals, groups and organizations to organize and/or participate in an awareness-raising event or prevention focused activity in their community. CHS, The Shelter will participate by initiating a “Can We Talk” Campaign. The plan is simple, talk to one person on this day in an effort to educate and raise awareness about sexual assault and how individuals and communities can help. You can talk in person, by phone, email, text message, the medium isn’t as important as the action. Our theory is we cannot stop sexual assault if we cannot talk about sexual assault. We are asking all of our staff, board, volunteers, friends, and colleagues to join us on April 3rd.

The following are some talking points to start your conversation.

April 3rd is the National Day to End Sexual Violence. Because sexual assault is such a problem for many I would like to take a minute or two to share some statistics/information with you.

• At least one in four women report being sexually assaulted in their lifetime

• Eleven out of twelve men would never commit an act of sexual assault

• In 2007, The Shelter saw 133 victims/survivors of sexual assault.

• 1 in 4 college women surveyed are victims of rape or attempted rape

• 85% of rape on campus are acquaintance rapes

• Over 75% of acquaintance rapes involve alcohol

• The risk of rape is 4 times higher for women aged 16-24 than any other age group

• 42% of college women who are raped tell no one about their assault

• Male victims represent 5% of reported sexual assaults

• 84% of date rapes do not report the incident to the police

• 70% of people with developmental disabilities are sexually assaulted

Did you know there is a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) in Columbia? Due to the efforts of the Boone County SART, the University Hospital has created a sexual assault exam clinic. The clinic area is in a private and confidential location within the hospital with sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) on call 24 hours a day devoted solely to the care of the sexual assault victim.

Nobody wants to be raped. Our responses about what room she was in, who she got in the car with, what she was wearing do not help a victim of sexual assault or rape. Being informed and aware of the statistics about the likelihood of being raped, prevention strategies and what to do after it occurs are real answers to real problems.

What can you do about rape or sexual assault? Learn about it, Google it, understand it so you can talk about it. The reason rape is one of the most rapidly increasing crimes is not because so many are willing to commit the act of rape but that so many individuals, communities, friends, and bystanders aren’t able or willing to try and stop it.

Our hope is that you will call a friend who will email her brother who will text his girlfriend who calls her aunt who calls her sister who tells her boss….who opens the conversation with his daughter who just happened to be raped last year.

Be Informed, Be a Friend, Be the Messenger, Stop Sexual Assault.