Sexual Assault awareness Month Proclamation April 2019 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 “I Ask.” The campaign champions the power of asking for consent — whether it be asking to hold someone’s hand, for permission to share personal information with others, or if a partner is interested in sex. Consent is a clear, concrete example of what it takes to end sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. The goal of the campaign is to empower everyone to put consent into practice. I Ask is the statement by which individuals will demonstrate that asking for consent is a healthy, normal, and necessary part of everyday interactions. I join 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. Name Date Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Whitfield, C. L., Brown, D. W., Felitti, V. J., Dong, M., & Giles, W. H. (2005). Long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse by gender of victim. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28, 430–438. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2005.01.015 Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T. D., Fisher, B. S., & Martin, S. L. (2007) The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study (NCJ 221153). Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf Smith, S. G., Chen, J., Basile, K. C., Gilbert, L. K., Merrick, M. T., Patel, N., … Jain, A. (2017). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010-2012 state report. Retrieved from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/NISVS-StateReportBook.pdf www.nsvrc.org/saam #SAAM #IAsk © 2019 National Sexual Violence Resource Center. All rights reserved.