Promote Social Norms
Empower Girls and Women
Women ages 18 to 24 are at an elevated risk for sexual assault, whether or not they're on a college campus. While victims of sexual assault should not be blamed, these elevated risks make it imperative that girls and women be trained in self-defense and empowerment. In addressing assault, rather than challenging the statistics, communities should provide quality self-defense training for everyone around the 18- to 24-year-old age range. Men are at higher risk of assault in these ages, too, and should know how to protect themselves as well.
Support Women and Girls
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention identifies strengthening economic supports for women and families, as well as strengthening leadership opportunities for girls, as key steps that communities can take to address sexual assault. Women who are assaulted on the job often feel they cannot report their assaults for fear of being fired.
Create Protective Environments
Schools, campuses, work environments, religious insitutions and other communities should work to improve their safety and monitoring, as well as general policies that aim to prevent and deal with assault. Communities should invest in improving the safety and security of their environments, which includes better lighting, security, volunteer escorts or putting more adults on hall-watch duty. Wherever assaults have occured or could potentially occur should be studied and considered for improvement.
Create Space to Talk About Assault
Conversations about sexual assault are not easy, but survivors should have space to safely share their experiences and feelings where they will be believed, supported and in control.
Encourage Consent Education and Awareness
Adolescents, teens and young adults need to learn that consent cannot be assumed. Communities' sexual education programs should encourage affirmative consent practices, which the University of Michigan defines for its students as "a clear and unambiguous agreement, expressed outwardly through mutually understandable words or actions, to engage in a particular activity." Moreover, girls, boys, men and women should understand that at any point consent can be withdrawn, and the request to do so must be respected.
Talk to Young Men
It is not only up to the individual, especially for women, to protect themselves from sexual assault. Communities need to engage in conversations to change behaviors and expectations that lead to sexual assault. Men can model for adolescent boys the language, behaviors and expectations connected to intimacy. Communities can encourage this and help provide language for how those conversations can go.
