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Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Prevention is Possible!

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Elise Pawlak
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Leah Rost
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar MNSU Contributor
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MNSU chapter.

What is Sexual Assault Awareness Month?

In the United States April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). During April people raise awareness about sexual violence and how to prevent it.

Since 2001, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) has provided resources to help individuals and organizations plan SAAM activities in their communities and play a role in prevention throughout the year.   

Each year, the NSVRC chooses a campaign theme and supports SAAM organizers and participants with resources, tools and customized help. SAAM materials can be used to educate, plan activities and support local campaigns. You can contact organizations in your state or community to learn more about activities planned for SAAM.

The 2016 Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign materials focus on the building blocks of prevention by communicating how individuals, communities, and the private sector can take action to promote safety, respect, and equality.

Get Involved

This April, help the Women’s Center, Violence Awareness & Response Program, and CADA raise awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Join us at all of these great events to get involved in the cause of ending violence against women and we have also listed other feminst related events as well. Click the pink links for more information! 

 

March 30th

  • Action Day to End Violence Against Women: The annual Action Day to End Violence Against Women will be held March 30, 2016. This event is for advocates, survivors, and community members to raise awareness about the pervasive and devastating impact of violence against women in Minnesota. This one-day event will oer youth programming, networking opportunities, and a march, which ends with a powerful rally in front of the State Capitol.

  • Give Back The Night:  this event being similar to the format of TBTN: a scheduled agenda of speakers. The major difference is that instead of centering the voices of women, we will center the voices of men speaking to the importance of ending violence against women. It will take place at 5pm in the CSU Lincoln Lounge on March 30th.

March 31st

  • Women’s Evening of Empowerment: The Women’s Center and College of Business are proud to host this event with the support of Her Campus MNSU. Join us for an evening of women empowerment including a networking dinner and stories of career/community success from inspiring women professionals. Tickets are required for admittance and can be picked up free of charge in both the Women’s Center and the College of Business.

  • Gender Bender: Get ready for kings, queens, and everything in-between in this annual campus favorite! Come to the LGBT Center (CSU 194). $1 in advance, $3 at the door.

April 1st

  • I Want a Safe Bar Rally: There will be a rally taking place on April 1st in downtown Mankato, kicking off Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Please join the Safe Bar Initiative in explaining why having bar staff trained on bystander intervention is important to you.

April 4th

  • How to Help a Friend: Preska 126, 7pm-8:30pm

April 5th

  • Sexual and Relationship Violence, presented by OutFront CSU 201, 5pm.

April 11th

  • Carol Ortman Perkins Lecture with Anita Sarkeesian: Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist media critic, blogger, and public speaker. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has received particular attention for her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, which examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters. On April 11th at 7pm, Sarkessian will be speaking about gender roles and how women are portrayed in the media. Tickets are required for admission to this event. Tickets are free for students, staff, and faculty and available at the Women’s Center, CSU 218. Community tickets are $5 and available at the Women’s Center.

April 12th

  • Let’s Taco Bout Consent: Consent Open House: Let’s Taco ‘Bout Consent with a free consent open house! Tuesday, April 12th: Stop in anytime between 1pm-3pm in MH 210! Tacos in a bag for the first 40 people! *Vegetarian option available upon request. Make Your Own Buttons! Free Candy and Condoms! Opportunities to win prizes!

    Event Topics: Consent: What it is and why everyone needs it!, How to ask for consent, How to help a survivor and Resources.

April 15th

  • Coming of Age Zine Submission deadline: An opportunity to submit your art and writing for the Women’s Center Zine! The theme for the spring 2016 semester is Coming of Age and we are taking submissions for the upcoming publication. Submissions may include art, poems, personal essays, short stories, etc. Please contact Elise Pawlak or Haley Severson with any questions or submissions (WCZineMNSU@gmail.com).

April 22nd

  • Violence-Free Zone Training, CSU 238, 11am-1pm

April 24th

  • Safe Bar Initiative 5K, Riverfront Park, 10am. Proceeds will be going to the Committee Against Domestic Abuse, Inc. (CADA). Please, join us on April 24, 2016 to raise awareness during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Participants will receive discounts and specials at various participating Safe Bar Initiative bars after the race and during race weekend!

April 26th

  • Sex Positivity with Smitten Kitten, CSU 201, 5pm-7:45pm

April 27th

  • Denim Day On Campus Photo: This year, Denim Day is nationally recognized on Wednesday, April 27th. Join us as we wear jeans in solidarity with victims! We’ll be meeting at noon in front of the Ballroom on Wednesday, April 27th for a group picture. We’d be honored if you would join us! In the 1990s, an 18-year-old girl was forcefully raped in Italy. The 45-year-old perpetrator was convicted of rape and sentenced to jail. However, the Italian Supreme Court dismissed the case “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.” Within a matter of hours women in the Italian Supreme Court took immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work. The protest has continued every year since and has become known as Denim Day. On this day, we all wear jeans as a visible means of protest against rape myths and victim-blaming. 

  • Take Back the Night: TBTN is an international event and non-profit organization with the mission of ending sexual, relationship, and domestic violence in all forms. Join us at 5pm to listen to survivors of sexual assault share their stories and then at 7:30pm join us as we march to downtown mankato.

Ongoing– WeAreHere campaign: 1 in 5 college women experience sexual assault. It is estimated that 95% of these campus rapes go unreported. These statistics are not acceptable. This reality is not one that can continue to exist. The WeAreHere Vision Wall seeks to bring together colleges and universities across America to collaboratively address sexual violence and the need for more welcoming, communicative, and safe campuses. By rallying universities across all fifty states together under one national movement, college students will demonstrate their willingness to take a stand. Moreover, they will prove the gravity of the problem, showing that sexual assault isn’t an issue specific to one individual university, community, or state, but rather a toxic nationwide disgrace. Together, we can make a real difference. Join us!

For more information about these events or how to get involved, Contact wcenter@mnsu.com.

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Elise Pawlak is a double major in Creative Writing and Mass Media with double minor in Gender Women’s Studies and Nonprofit Leadership at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is constantly running around campus with being the President of Society of Professional Journalists, Treasurer of Public Relations Student Society of America, Treasurer of Gender Women’s Studies club, the Communications chair for the Women of Action Committee, and the Public Relations intern for the MNSU Women’s Center. When she does have a free moment it is spent rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and connecting with her spirit animal: The Bloody Mary. After she graduates in May of 2016 she plans to pursue a career in the world of writing… hopefully landing a job that will help her pay off her student loans before she starts collecting social security.
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Hello! My name is Leah Rost and I'm a senior Gender and Women's Studies major double minoring in Creative Writing and Sexualities Studies. This is my second year as an intern for the Women's Center and I am President of Gender and Women's Studies club. In my free time I write poetry, do yoga, hike and love to laugh a lot!
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