Sexual harassment, abuse, and assault can have short- and long-term physical, emotional, and psychological effects on a person’s well-being and can impact their family, school, workplace, and an entire community, from the culture and connections between people to the economic toll (NSVRC, 2016). Our role in preventing sexual violence means we all must do our part to tackle deep-rooted abuses of power that contribute to inequities in health, safety, and well-being.

Sexual assault as defined by the United States Department of Justice “means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent.” In short, anyone who is not at the state’s minimum legal age requirement to provide consent, an adult who has not given verbal consent, someone who rescinds their consent, experiences attempted rape, unwanted fondling or unwanted sexual touching, is intoxicated on any level, a perpetrator forcing a victim to perform sexual acts such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body, or penetration of the victim’s body all fall under examples of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault.

What can we do as a society to prevent these acts from occurring as well as educate ourselves about sexual assault and violence? We need to take a look at rape culture. Within rape culture, the survivor is oftentimes marginalized which results in victim-blaming, rape myths, and gender inequality. For example, states such as North Carolina still have laws that blame the victim and support rape myths. These laws include the inability of a person to withdraw their consent to engage in sexual intercourse once consent has been provided. In addition, a person who voluntarily consumes alcohol and then is sexually assaulted is not protected under North Carolina criminal law because they “voluntarily incapacitated themselves.”

Although toxic masculinity may be a newer term in our culture, the constructs associated with it have a long history which is interwoven into American culture and should be considered when discussing survivors of sexual violence. Toxic masculinity describes the rigid characteristics and attitudes that are often (falsely) associated with what it means to “be a man.” Some of these characteristics include strength, violence, sex, power, and a lack of emotion and vulnerability which are perceived negatively due to their feminine connotations. However, toxic masculinity perpetuates sexual violence toward women and men. Understanding the gender-based nature and power dynamics of sexual violence and social constructs such as toxic masculinity help us as a community to be educated on the factors which contribute to the perpetuation of sexual violence in our culture.

Bottom line, sexual assault, harassment, and abuse in not the victim’s fault. Sexual assault occurs because of perpetrators, not victims. They need our support, empathy, and resources to break this culture we have.

Here are some more startling statistics:

• Every 68 seconds, an America is sexually assaulted
• The majority of sexual assault victims are under the age of 30
• 1 out of every 10 attempted or completed rape victims is male, 1 out of 6 is female
• Only between 2-10% of sexual assault reports are false reports

Need help?

Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. It is confidential and can be routed to another Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) affiliated organization using only the first 6 digits of your phone number.

How can the hotline help me?

Calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline gives you access to a range of free services including:

• Confidential support from a trained staff member
• Support finding a local health facility that is trained to care for survivors of sexual assault and offers services like sexual assault forensic exams
• Someone to help you talk through what happened
• Local resources that can assist with your next steps toward healing and recovery
• Referrals for long term support in your area
• Information about the laws in your community
• Basic information about medical concern