April is SAAM!

April is SAAM--Sexual Assault Awareness Month!  This is always a big deal to me, as in my previous life (before being a SAHM) I was a sexual assault advocate and education specialist.  The theme this year is "Get Social!"  Bring awareness by spreading the word and bringing it to light--make others aware, help prevent, and show other victims that they are not alone. 

My primary place that I did all my work was on a college campus.  Why?  Because that is where it happened to me.  So here are some statistics about college and sexual assault, from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center:

It is estimated that the percentage of completed or attempted rape victimization among women in higher educational institutions may be between 20% and 25% over the course of a college career.

Among college women, 9 in 10 victims of rape and sexual assault knew their offender.

Almost 12.8% of completed rapes, 35% of attempted rapes, and 22.9% of threatened rapes happened during a date.

2.8% experienced either a completed rape (1.7%) or an attempted rape (1.1%) during the six-month period in which the study was conducted. Of victims, 22.8% were victims of multiple rapes. If this data is calculated for a calendar year period, nearly 5% of college women are victimized during any given calendar year.

It is estimated that for every 1,000 women attending a college or university, there are 35 incidents of rape each academic year.

Off-campus sexual victimization is much more common among college women than on-campus victimization. Of victims of completed rape 33.7% were victimized on campus and 66.3% off campus.

Less than 5% of completed or attempted rapes against college women were reported to law enforcement. However, in 2/3rds of the incidents the victim did tell another person, usually a friend, not family or school officials.

Throughout the month, I will be sharing more information about sexual assault and violence.  So GET SOCIAL, and spread the word!!