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How has sexual assault and violence become the norm in our society?

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Annabel Greene lives the perfect life, or at least, thats what it looks like. Her friendships have suddenly ended, her sister Whitney has developed an eating disorder, and she is struggling with a past incident with her friend Sophie's boyfriend. Annabelle meets Owen - as outcast at her school who helps her find her courage to tell her parents that she wants to end her modeling career and to speak up about her worst fear.

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Transcript: Donald Trump's Taped Comments About Women

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Transcript: Donald Trump's Taped Comments About Women

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During the 2016 Trump Campaign, Access Hollywood released a tape of him speaking with Billy Bush about how he advances onto women, treating them as sexual objects making this behavior a norm.

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Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women (Published 2016)

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Mr. Trump was filmed talking to Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood” on the set of “Days of Our Lives” in 2005 when Mr. Trump repeatedly made vulgar remarks about women.

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Based off the the serial rape cases between 2008 and 2010, Washington teenager Marie comes forward believing that she has been sexually assaulted. With no proof, she is charged with having lied about this, letting herself get pushed so far as to actually believe that she was lying to herself. That is, until police were looking for a serial rapist in Denver, Colorado that Marie realizes that this case is too similar to her own.

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Love The Way You Lie - Eminem feat. Rihanna (2010)

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Love The Way You Lie - Eminem feat. Rihanna (2010)

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After Rihanna survives a domestic violence attack from boyfriend Chris Brown, she and Eminem write a song addressing the dangers of an abusive relationship and what it looks like from the inside.

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11 Facts About Sexual Assault - DoSomething.org

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11 Facts About Sexual Assault - DoSomething.org

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"1 in 5 women (20%) will be sexually assaulted while at college while only 4% of college men will be sexually assaulted."
The facts about sexual assault in contemporary America. These range from college campuses to learning that these cases of sexual violence usually happen from someone the victim knows.

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Written in a series of poems, a young women shares her personal account of sexual assault during the Vietnam War. She shares her experiences, along with immigration, and the cultural backdrop of her life.

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The weekend of Halloween, Cassie visits McKay at school for a party and witnesses his fraternity brothers raping him. Nate and Maddy continue their relationship even after the charges Maddy's parents are pressing to Nate for the bruising on her neck. Jules feels pressure by being the one that keeps Rue sober.
*This episode is extremely explicit, showing sex, violence, and drug use.

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1-800-656-4673
*National Sexual Assault Hotline

1-800-230-7526
Planned Parenthood Hotline

1-800-787-3224
National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-844-644-6435
*Ohio Sexual Violence Hotline

513-529-4634
*Miami University (Oxford) Student Counseling Services

741-741
*Crisis text line - text "hello" to the number

513-529-1870
Miami University Sexual Assault Response Coordinator

513-887-4303
*Ohio Center for Family Solutions

* - Not required to report sexual assault to the authorities

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Eighteen year old Emma is the talk of her little Irish town - beautiful and fearless. But, one night after a party, Emma's parents find her unconscious on their doorstep. With no memory of the incident, explicit pictures taken that night, and some mysterious pain, even with evidence people don't want to believe the truth.

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The People of the State of California vs. Brock Turner

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The People of the State of California vs. Brock Turner

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On January 18th, 2015, Brock Turner, a student at Stanford University, partook on non-consensual sex with fellow student Chanel Miller while she was unconscious behind a dumpster. Students Peter Lars Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt caught him and turned him into the authorities. With the large amount of press this case had, which also gave more press and awareness for the MeToo Movement.

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Sexual Assault Misconceptions - The University of Michigan

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Sexual Assault Misconceptions - The University of Michigan

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"Misconception: Sexual assault happens because people need sex. People get carried away by their sexual desires and/or hormones and lose control.
Truth: Sexual assault is about power and control."
This article looks into what people people believe to be the truths behind sexual assault and violence and debunks them to explain the real reasons for these acts.

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Several misconceptions exist about sexual assault. These misconceptions often shift responsibility and blame from the assailant to the victim. Understanding the misconceptions surrounding sexual assault may help you in your recovery. What happened to you was a crime. You are not to blame for the assailant's behavior.

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x Misconception
Sexual assault happens because people need sex. People get carried away by their sexual desires and/or hormones and loose control.

Sexual assault is a form of sexualized violence, that is, violence enacted in a sexual way. Like many other crimes, sexual assault is about power and control. Sexual assault happens because perpetrators put their desires over the survivor's agency to consent. The survivor is never to blame.

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Sexual assault is sex.

Sexual assault is an act of violence, not sex. This is an important distinction because by framing sexualized violence as about sex and not about violence we focus on the perpetrator's narrative and not the survivor's. Focusing on the perpetrator's narrative leads society to blame the victim and to not hold the perpetrator accountable for their actions. Remember, sexual assault happens because perpetrators exert power over the survivor to take away any control the survivor has in choosing whether or not to engage in a sexual situation. Thus, sexual assault is not sex to the survivor - it is an act of violence.

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Sexual assault is correlated with sexually repressed societies. If people had more sexual opportunities, sexual assault would be less frequent.

This misconception again ties sexual violence to uncontrollable sexual desire. People don't commit sexual assault because they don't have enough sexual opportunities. People commit sexual assault because they feel entitled to other people's bodies and disregard other people's right to consent.

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Sexual assault happens when people drink too much. If people drank less, rates of sexual assault would plummet.

The consumption of alcohol does not cause sexual assault. Perpetrators, however, often use alcohol or other drugs as a means to facilitate assault. Like other criminal offenses, sexual assault is often an opportunistic crime, and perpetrators often take the survivor's incapacitation as an opportunity to commit violence. Additionally, perpetrators often use their own substance use as a strategy for relinquishing responsibility. Like other crimes, however, being drunk when committing sexual assault does not absolve a person of responsibility. Whether or not a person is drunk, the person initiating sexual activity must always have clear and unambiguous consent to do so.

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If they didn't want it to happen, they would have said something or fought back. It must have been consensual since there are no bruises or other physical evidence of assault.

Many people have heard of the fight or flight response as the typical responses to danger, but it is actually fight, flight, or freeze. The freeze response is a documented neurobiological condition also referred to as tonic immobility. Tonic immobility is an autonomic mammalian response that happens in extremely fearful situations; it is uncontrollable and not something a person decides to do. Research shows that around 50% of survivors experience tonic immobility during an assault. This does not mean the sex is consensual.

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People often falsely accuse others of sexual assault.

False accusations of sexual assault are extremely rare. Research demonstrates that rates of false reporting are consistent across violent crimes, including sexual assault. Because of the cognitive dissonance that occurs when we hear about rape, it's difficult for people to believe that it can be true. But it's important to remember that each individual's personal reaction is the first step in a long path toward justice and healing for the survivor. Knowing how to respond is critical-a negative response can worsen the trauma and foster an environment where perpetrators face zero consequences for their crimes. If someone confides in you that they were sexually assaulted, believe them.

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Men can't be sexually assaulted.

Men are also survivors of sexual violence, and their perpetrators can be of any gender identity, including both men and women. The University of Michigan's 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct found that 1.4% of male students experienced unwanted oral or anal penetration and that 6.8% of undergraduate males experienced some form of nonconsensual touching and kissing or penetration. While these rates are significantly lower than those experienced by female students, we need to remember that these numbers represent real people, and that even one case of sexual assault is too many. All survivors deserve our advocacy, support, and activism. There continues to be a great deal of resistance in many spaces to recognizing men as survivors, and this resistance is reinforced by misconceptions like "men can't be forced to have sex" or "men want sex all the time," both of which are false. When we talk about men being responsible in preventing sexual assault, we should remember that men are survivors too. And when talking with men about sexual assault, it's important to remember that men could experience or have experienced sexual violence as well.

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All men want to commit sexual assault.

This misconception results from a simplistic and ultimately inaccurate understanding of gender. At the root of this argument is the belief that men are biologically predisposed to sexual violence because of their hormones, sex drive, etc. But sexual assault isn't about sexual desire; it is about power and control. While it is true that the majority of perpetrators are men, this has more to do with how men are socialized, and how our society has constructed gender and masculinity, than biology. Rooting the issue of rape in biology is counterproductive, because the actual issue is behavior and culture-things that are well within our power to change.

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Women can only be sexually assaulted by men.

Women can be sexually assaulted by people of any gender identity, including other women. Sexual violence is often rigidly defined in our society as committed by men against women, however people of all gender identities can be survivors or perpetrators.

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Most rapists are strangers to their victims.

Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the survivor knows or even cares about - a roommate, friend, acquaintance, co-worker, classmate, spouse, partner, or ex-partner. The University of Michigan's 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct, for example, found that 56% of students who had an unwanted sexual experience said another U-M student was responsible. Only 5.5% of students reported no prior relationship or did not know the perpetrator. Knowing one's perpetrator can be especially confusing for survivors, because of the added betrayal of having the trust they put into someone close to them violated.

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If they were really sexually assaulted, they would report it to the police and/or the university.

The University of Michigan's 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct found that only 3.6% of students reported their experience of sexual misconduct to an official University resource or law enforcement (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, Office of Institutional Equity, Office of the Dean of Students, Office of Student Conflict Resolution, the Ann Arbor, or U-M police department). When asked why they did not report their experience, most students who responded said they did not want to get the person responsible in trouble, or they blamed themselves. A significant number also felt embarrassed or ashamed, did not think the community would label their experience as serious or worthy of professional attention, or did not believe the incident was serious enough to merit a report. Among students who said they had a least one unwanted sexual experience at U-M, however, 46% did tell someone else, most often, a friend or a roommate. Thus, we as a campus community can remove barriers to survivors reporting by creating a campus and societal culture where we don't blame survivors, where we take disclosures seriously, and where we hold perpetrators accountable. SAPAC also provides services to friends, family, and colleagues of survivors, who are looking to learn more about how to be supportive and to connect a survivor to resources.

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Sexual assault is an exaggerated issue.

Sexual assault is a serious, prevalent crime. The University of Michigan's 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct found that 11.4% of all students experienced some form of nonconsensual touching and kissing or oral, vaginal, or anal penetration - including 22.5% of undergraduate females and 6.8% of undergraduate males. The survey also found that 9.7% of all female students (graduate and undergraduate) experienced unwanted oral, vaginal, or anal penetration (compared to 1.4% of male students). Sexual assault is a serious physical, emotional, and psychological crime and should be treated that way.

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Women entice men to sexually assault them by dressing a certain way or by leading them on.

People may experience sexual assault no matter what they are wearing or how they were acting; what the survivor was wearing in no way makes them responsible for the assault. No person deserves to be assaulted, asks to be assaulted or wants to be assaulted. This misconception again shows the extent to which sexual assault is sexualized in our society. Sexual assault does not occur because of uncontrollable sexual desire. People commit sexual assault because they feel entitled to other people's bodies and disregard other people's right to consent. Perpetrators often use the excuse of how the survivor dressed or acted as way to avoid taking responsibility for their own criminal sexual behavior. But perpetrators are responsible for their own desires and actions.

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If a man is sexually assaulted by another man, he must be gay or have been acting gay.

People commit sexual assault because they feel entitled to other people's bodies and disregard other people's right to consent. Saying that someone was "acting gay" is just another excuse perpetrators make to justify their own criminal behavior. Regardless of a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, no one deserves or asks to be assaulted. The perpetrator is responsible.

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If we allow transgender and gender non-conforming people to use whichever bathroom they feel safest in, sexual assault in bathrooms will increase.

This misconception is rooted in the false belief that people who are transgender or gender non-conforming are sexual predators. There is absolutely no evidence of this. There are no statistics that support the idea that LGBT individuals are more likely to commit sexual assault or be sex offenders than heterosexuals or cis-gendered individuals. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately likely to be heterosexual cis-gendered men.

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When someone says no to sex, you should just keep asking until they say yes.

Pressuring someone into having sex, means having non-consensual sex. The University of Michigan's Sexual Misconduct Policy defines consent as a clear and unambiguous agreement, expressed outwardly through mutually understandable words and/or actions, to engage in a particular activity. Consent must be voluntarily given and cannot be obtained through coercion or force. Coercion is conduct, including intimidation and express or implied threats of immediate or future physical, emotional, reputational, financial, or other harm to the person or others, that would reasonably place an individual in fear, and that is employed to compel someone to engage in sexual activity. Coercion includes continually verbally pressuring someone to have sex after they said they didn't want to. Coercion includes telling lies, threatening to end a relationship, threatening to spread rumors about the person, showing displeasure, criticizing your sexuality or attractiveness or getting angry but not using physical force. If you are ever unclear about someone's wishes, ask for clarification. If someone says no or seems unsure, respect that person and their wishes. People can withdraw consent at anytime - if you're having sex with someone and they tell you to stop, you should.

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If someone becomes physically aroused, orgasms and/or ejaculates when they are assaulted, then it is not really sexual assault.

Reaching orgasm does not mean that someone enjoyed being assaulted, or that they wanted it. Orgasm is a natural biological reaction to physical stimulation that cannot always be controlled; it does not mean that forced or coerced sexual activity was consensual. In fact, perpetrators often exploit these biological reactions as a way to convince both themselves and the survivor that the experience was consensual - when in reality it was not.

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Black men target white women to sexually assault.

There is no racial monopoly on rape; however, our culture's definition of rape has depended heavily on dynamics of political power and social privilege. The long-dominant view of rape in America envisioned a brutal attack on a chaste white woman by a male stranger, usually an African American. But since the early nineteenth century advocates for women's rights and racial justice have challenged this narrow definition and the sexual and political power of white men it sustains.

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They had sex with them before, so it can't be sexual assault.

It can be - consent should not be assumed from an existing or previous dating or sexual relationship. Even in the context of a relationship, there must be mutual consent to engage in any sexual activity each time it occurs. Consent to engage in one sexual activity at one time is not consent to engage in a different sexual activity or to engage in the same sexual activity on a later occasion. A person who initiates a specific sexual activity is responsible for obtaining consent for that activity. Either party at any point can withdraw consent. Consent is a clear and unambiguous agreement, expressed outwardly through mutually understandable words or actions, to engage in a particular activity. Consent must be voluntarily given and cannot be obtained through coercion or force. Once consent is withdrawn, the sexual activity must cease immediately.

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There's no way that person could be a rapist - they're good looking, nice, and have always been a positive role model in our community. Why would they sexually assault someone when there are so many people who would want to be with them?

Likable and charming people commit violence, too.

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Sexual harassment is over-exaggerated. Policies on sexual harassment make normal flirtation a crime. Most harassment is minor, harmless flirtation.

Sexual harassment is severe, persistent, or pervasive behavior that unreasonably interferes with, limits, or deprives an individual from participating in or benefitting from the University's education or employment programs and/or activities. Harassment also occurs when submissions to or rejection of such conduct is made, either explicitly or implicitly, a term or condition of a person's employment, academic standing, or participation in any University programs and/or activities, or is used as the basis for University decisions affecting the individual. Although repeated incidents generally create a stronger claim of sexual harassment, a serious incident, even if isolated, can be sufficient. The University of Michigan's 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct found that nearly 23% of all students reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment; most said they had been stared at in a sexual way, had been the subject of teasing comments of a sexual nature or someone had made a sexual motion towards the student, all in spite of requests to stop.

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If someone were sexually assaulted, they wouldn't be talking to the perpetrator the next day.

There are many reasons why a survivor might maintain a relationship with someone who has assaulted them. The survivor might feel their safety would be threatened if they end the relationship. The survivor may be unable to avoid the perpetrator if they live together, work together, are in class together, or have the same social circles. Or the survivor might still be defining and trying to understand what's happened to them. Because many survivors knew the perpetrator before being assaulted, survivors may be trying to negotiate the conflicting thoughts and feelings they have about their perpetrator. Sexual assault is a traumatic experience, and one common reaction to the overwhelming thoughts and feelings of trauma is to attempt to forget that the situation happened and to move on. Survivors often feel social pressure to act like everything is okay, regardless of what they actually feel. The important thing to remember is that people cope with traumatic incidents in different ways.

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Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center

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Several misconceptions exist about sexual assault. These misconceptions often shift responsibility and blame from the assailant to the victim. Understanding the misconceptions surrounding sexual assault may help you in your recovery. What happened to you was a crime. You are not to blame for the assailant's behavior.

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What can we do to decrease sexual violence today?

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Precious is a sixteen-year-old girl, pregnant with her second child living in Harlem in the 1980s. She struggles with coming to terms with the abuse she endured from her parents as well aa living in poverty and attempting to finish school.

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No Means No!: Teaching Personal Boundaries, Consent; Empowering Children by Respecting Their Choices and Right to Say "No!" - Jayneen Sanders

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No Means No!: Teaching Personal Boundaries, Consent; Empowering Children by Respecting Their Choices and Right to Say "No!" - Jayneen Sanders

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A little girl finds the courage to tell people know when she feels uncomfortable with any hugging or touching between people. This picture book is to empower children to be able to say no as well as teach them boundaries when it comes to touching others.

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Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

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Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

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Charlie starts his freshman year of high school by meeting a group of seniors who take him in as one of their own as he ventures through adolescence in an unconventional way. Over time, he discovers more about himself and his past as well as the difficulties that others have gone through.

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This movement is to create awareness and help decrease sexual violence. It is typically aimed more to help Black women and girls, as well as women of color, from communities of lower wealth to help with their healthy, as well as stop this from happening to future generations.

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1 in 10 elderly persons suffer abuse, including sexual abuse, within a one year period. Among those aged 60 and over, the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault is 7%.

Source | Acierno, Ron & Hernandez-Tejada, Melba & Amstadter, Ananda & Resnick, Heidi & Steve, Kenneth & Muzzy, Wendy & Kilpatrick, Dean. (2009). Prevalence and Correlates of Emotional, Physical, Sexual, and Financial Abuse and Potential Neglect in the United States: The National Elder Mistreatment Study. American journal of public health. 100. 292-7. 10.2105/AJPH.2009.163089.

1 in 10 youth detained in juvenile facilities experience sexual assault or sexual abuse while in custody.

Source | Beck, A. J. (2014). PREA data collection activities, 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

1 in 4 women have experienced rape or attempted rape during their lifetimes, according to several national U.S. surveys.

Source | Fisher et al. 2000; Koss et al. 1987; Tjaden and Thoennes 2000

Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women (NCJ Publication No. 182369). Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

Koss, M. P., Gidycz, C. A., &Wisniewski, N. (1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162-170.

Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NCJ Publication No. 183781). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

1 in every 5 survivors of confirmed sexual abuse in ICE detention is transgender even though trans people make up only 1 in 500 people detained by ICE.

Source | Guitierrez, Jennicet (June 25, 2015). "I interrupted President Obama because we need to be heard," Washington Blade.

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1 in 10 elderly persons suffer abuse, including sexual abuse, within a one year period. Among those aged 60 and over, the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault is 7%. Source | Acierno, Ron & Hernandez-Tejada, Melba & Amstadter, Ananda & Resnick, Heidi & Steve, Kenneth & Muzzy, Wendy & Kilpatrick, Dean.

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Novel writer Elizabeth speaks about the after affects of sexual assault and what it turns young girls into.

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Laurie Halse Anderson writes a novel in poetic verse about sexual assault. This is developed from true stories of women who have suffered from this in their past, writing in rants, reflections, and calling people to action in order to advocate for sexual assault survivors.

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The clothes that sexual assault survivors wore during the incident. This was displayed in an art exhibit by Penn State students.