Articles
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
By Madeleine Cerone
April 19, 2024
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), which means that there is a special focus on supporting survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse this month, The DMC aims to spread information about these traumas and how we can address them. Let’s take some time to learn about the history of SAAM, the importance of year’s theme, and the different ways that you can participate in SAAM awareness here on Hamilton’s campus.
Officially established in 2001, Sexual Assault Awareness Month is one of the more recent additions to our nation’s awareness months. However, this does not mean that sexual assault awareness was not happening before that. About 50 years ago, movements supporting women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights were crucial in changing the status quo around sexuality and sexual violence in the 1970s. Examples include the Women’s Equal Rights Parade, the establishment of the first rape crisis center in San Francisco, the Take Back the Night Campaign. These events all contributed to changes in legislation as our government started to give attention to the issues surrounding sexual assault, harrassment, and abuse. Therefore, it’s taken many people and many years to bring us the nationally recognized SAAM that we have today.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is organized and coordinated by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), which establishes a new theme for their campaign every year. Each theme attempts to address the issue of sexual violence from a new angle. This year’s theme is “Building Connected Communities”. By creating safe and connected communities, we decrease the possibility that sexual assault will take place, and we instill stronger support systems for survivors if there is an instance of violence. Harboring a safe space for others is a huge goal for us at the DMC, but we also realize that finding community is not easy at college. In the act of coming to college, many students are thrown into an entirely new environment that they have never seen before, especially in the case of out-of-state students, international students, first-generation students, and other minority groups. The NSVRC encourages us to build communities by improving our own and our neighbors’ health, wellness, and education, but many times students are not able to access these things without help from administration or faculty. The Days-Massolo Center is here to be that help and that safe community for all students, but especially those that are struggling.
Another community on campus specifically for survivors of sexual assault is the Survivors Making Activism and Radical Transformation (SMART) club. This club is dedicated to eliminating culture that contributes to incidents of sexual assault and it’s normalization. Throughout April, SMART has spearheaded several events in a campaign to start conversation and raise awareness about sexual violence, including a collaboration with the DMC’s own Center for Intersectional Feminism (CIF). If you’ve missed their events thus far, make sure to wear denim on April 24th (this Wednesday!) in order to help raise awareness for SAAM!
Sexual Assault Awareness Month often goes unnoticed, but here are some ways that you can stay educated about what this month stands for and how we can support our survivors and contribute to the abolition of sexual violence:
Contact
Office / Department Name
Days-Massolo Center
Contact Name
Koboul E. Mansour, Ph.D
Director of the Days-Massolo Center
