This month, the victims of sexual assault — which includes one in four women during their college careers, according to the Sexual Assault Awareness Education Program — will have the opportunity break their silence.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which runs through May, began in 1987 to encourage awareness and prevention of sexual violence.
Sexual assault educator and advocate Mira Levine, who works in the Office of Student Life, said the month will allow sexual assault survivors to be part of a supportive environment where they do not feel blamed for the crime.
In the cases she has seen during the past three years at Sexual Assault Support Services, the majority was no stranger to rape.
“A friend, boyfriend, girlfriend or even a spouse — it is almost always someone the victim knows,” Levine said.
The month will feature a variety of discussion sections, a charity volleyball tournament, movies and speakers. Sexual Assault Support Services community educator Janet Fiskio added that the month is meant to envision the future without violence.
But this year’s events aren’t only for sexual assault victims. There will be a two-day training on May 6 and 7 conducted by the Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention for students, community members and faculty to learn skills that will help them provide support to survivors of sexual assault.
Levine said participants gain active listening skills and the ability to communicate things supportively to empower the survivors, in turn giving them the power to make their own decisions.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance will sponsor a free showing Thursday of the Academy Award-winning film “Boys Don’t Cry” at 7 p.m. The film and discussion afterward focuses on the story of the film’s transgendered subject, Brandon Teena, who was raped and murdered when people discovered he was born female.
Levine said the film shows how rape can be used as a form of hate crime.
Byron McCrae, assistant dean of Student Life and coordinator for the ASAP, emphasized the notion that society puts much shame on victims of sexual assault. McCrae said young women are not given enough opportunities to ask questions about sexual assault.
“It is important for people who have experienced sexual assault to hear ‘It’s not your fault,’” Levine said. “It is not the victim’s responsibility to stop sexual assault. It is the responsibility of the rapist not to rape.”
Sexual Assault Support Services is also co-sponsoring the 22nd annual Take Back the Night on May 18 in conjunction with the ASUO Women’s Center.
Women’s Center event coordinator Jennie Breslow said the march’s long history has been established in Eugene and nationwide. The event will start at 7 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheater with music and sign making.
“Participants will make signs that they can carry during the march like ‘Women unite, take back the night,’” Breslow said.
Sexual Assault Support Services will also display the national Clothesline Project during Take Back the Night.
“It is a dramatic and moving art display that bears witness to the impact of sexual assault and abuse of women because the T-shirts are made by survivors,” Fiskio said.
A rally and speakers are scheduled at 8 p.m., followed by a march to head downtown through the streets of Eugene. The march ends at Eighth Avenue and Oak Street, where a speak-out by victims of sexual assault will take place.
“The first march took place in San Francisco,” Breslow said. “The idea was for one evening women would be able to take the streets and feel safe as a group and the community could hear their voices.”
Breslow said the night’s events are expected to attract between 500 to 750 people.