Responding to #MeToo and More

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In a time when our newsfeeds are overflowing with disclosures from sexual assault survivors, articles about the social and political consequences for high profile perpetrators, and endless debates over what accountability should look and sound like, it is natural to feel overwhelmed.

We are swimming, sometimes drowning, in questions. “How do we stop sexual assault?” “How come it has taken this long for people in power to be called out?” “How do I heal?” “What do we do with offenders?” “How do I escape, when it feels like sexual violence is everywhere?” “Who can I trust?”

As an agency, SARC wants to directly address all that is occurring in Hollywood, state and federal politics, and in our own communities. But while this storm of media attention has the potential to be a pivotal moment in changing how our culture views and addresses sexual violence, SARC’s response has remained the same:

If you have experienced sexual violence and are looking for some kind of support, SARC is here for you.

Whether something happened three hours ago or thirty years ago, SARC is here for you.

Whether you know exactly what you want or you have no idea where to begin, SARC is here for you.

For anybody with any gender identity, race, documentation status, sexual orientation, occupation, spirituality, and any other identities that make up a human being, SARC is here for you.

Whether you want to tell us what happened or you want to keep that to yourself, SARC is here for you.

For people struggling with how to support a friend or family member who has experienced sexual violence, SARC is here for you.

To people who may be grappling with the multitudes of denials that have come from these disclosures, and the small number of admissions, we want to recognize how painful and messy it is to hear perpetrators try to lie or apologize their way out of accountability. Hearing offenders admit their wrongdoing can have value and be healing for some people, and SARC respects the power that can give survivors. We would be ignorant to not also recognize critically that it is only under the most extreme social and political pressure that these few public admissions are coming to light – when entire careers, financial investments, and crucial elections are on the line.

The reality of how commonplace acts of sexual violence are is as true today as it was 40 years ago when SARC first started, as it was 400 years ago. The consequences these high profile perpetrators are facing represent a step forward in cultural accountability, but this momentum needs to carry us further. As a culture, we can’t only pay attention to an offender after more than 50, more than 70, more than 100 survivors come forward. We can’t come out against sexual assault but not call out “locker room talk” at our jobs, schools, and in our personal lives.

To those in positions of power, especially white men, who pledge to be more accountable in their personal and professional lives, and who recognize how they have contributed to and enabled sexual violence, we say: thank you, more please. Step up through ongoing actions, beyond words alone. Take the pressure of voicing these issues off of those who experience sexual violence most often, like women, trans women, women of color, LGBTQ people, women in poverty, and more. For too long, the burden of combating sexual violence has fallen to those who have experienced it firsthand. Help us change that.

SARC is, as always, in awe of the resilience and strength of the survivors out there. The people we work with, and the people we don’t. The people who are sharing their stories, and those who are not. Everyday may not be perfect, you may not always feel the magnitude of your strength, and you may not always feel okay. Through all of that, you are not alone. Everyday, especially the tough days, SARC is here for you.

 

To get in touch with SARC’s services, seek support, or ask questions, contact SARC’s 24-hour Support Line: 503-640-5311.

Spotlight: Melody Chow

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Melody is a recent graduate of our Primary Prevention & Education training. Read her take on the great work she is doing with SARC!

Teaching has always been a passion of mine. While studying as a film major in college, I mentored several students on media production and theory. It was a joy to watch them expand their worldview and creative expression, and heartening to know that I had a positive impact on their education.

When I heard that SARC has a prevention education branch, I jumped at the chance to get involved. Over these past few weeks, I’ve been training with Jenna Harper and several PSU graduate students to become an instructor in high schools. Our job will be to present lessons about healthy relationships, communication, pornography, and media. Subjects like oppression were particularly eye-opening to me; although I was incredibly aware of the patriarchal, white-centric society in which we live, I didn’t have the words to express those conditions in an articulate manner. This training has given me those words.MelodyNewsletterPhoto

The cultivation of perpetration begins in childhood. Children are surrounded by a culture that encourages female objectification and victim blaming. They are taught at a young age that it’s okay to kiss someone without their consent because it’s “romantic” and that coercion is a viable means of communication. As educators, we can interrupt his destructive messaging and discuss the “why” behind these misconceptions. As we spark those conversations, students can come to their own conclusions about what it means to be an equal partner in a relationship and how they can rethink rape culture.

My first day of teaching is coming up quick and I couldn’t be more excited (and a little nervous). The lessons we will teach are so vital, and I hope that the students will be able to take our words to heart and fight perpetration.

Primary Prevention Q&A

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SARC’s Primary Prevention & Education Manager, Jenna Harper, answers questions about sexual violence and prevention. This is just one of our programs we feel is so critical and paramount to helping to change the culture to help end sexual violence.

Q: How do we prevent sexual violence? 

JH: This question is one most of us have asked, whether we have experienced sexual violence, care about someone who has, or work in the field.  Although many have tried to solve the issue by telling people, mainly women, to carry pepper spray, cut their hair, or avoid walking home alone at night, those strategies have not affected rates of sexual assault.  In order to tackle the question of prevention, we must look at the root causes of sexual violence in our society.

Q: What causes sexual violence?

JH: There are many root causes of sexual violence. I’ll talk briefly about just one: oppression.

Anyone can be assaulted, but research shows us that all people don’t experience sexual violence equally. It is generally assumed that women experience sexual assault most often. But other identities like people of color, people with disabilities, and/or transgender people also experience higher rates of targeting. Reducing someone to one identity, like their womanhood, doesn’t give us a full picture. For example, 19% of white women experience rape, 22% of black women, and 33.5% of multiracial. While 35% of heterosexual women experience rape, physical violence, stalking by an intimate partner, the rate jumps to 61% of bisexual women. Bisexual men’s prevalence rate is 37%, which is 8% higher than heterosexual men (NISVS, 2011). Oppression is a root cause of sexual violence. Or as a colleague of mine would say, in our society, we put different values on different people’s bodies.

Other root causes include things like unhealthy norms promoted through media, male sexual entitlement, and more.

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Q: What is Primary Prevention?

JH: Primary Prevention is the belief that in order to end sexual violence we need to focus on perpetrators and try to prevent them from ever perpetrating in the first place.

Through the critical examination of the unhealthy norms in our society and promotion of healthy norms, we seek to create a culture in our communities that values healthy relationships and sexuality.

Our prevention curricula are linked to state and federal health standards, and are based on literature reviews and best practices. They fulfill required Oregon educational components, as legislated by both Erin’s Law and The Healthy Teen Relationship Act. The curricula are regularly updated with the intention of staying timely, expanding on relevant topics, and improving participant outcomes. The sessions are highly activity-based and encourage students in the room to contribute based on their own knowledge, cultures, and experiences.

Q: What do we do when we know the root causes of sexual violence?

JH: We need to work to end oppression of all forms including sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and so on, so that people do not use sexual violence as a form of control to keep others disempowered. We need to talk to each other about what healthy relationships and healthy sexuality looks like, including consent, equity, respect, trust, and safety. With that knowledge and those dialogues, we can begin to hold our communities more accountable to the higher standards we set. Our prevention program takes this education into the classroom.

 

If you are interested in learning more about our curriculum, volunteering to teach, purchasing our curriculum, and/or participating in a ‘Train the Trainer’ course, please contact jennah[at]sarcoregon.org.

How do we hold Charlottesville in a larger context?

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It has been almost three weeks since the white supremacist acts of terrorism in Charlottesville, VA. We are still angered, saddened, afraid, and exhausted, but not surprised. Mostly because events like Neo-Nazi marches in Virginia have been happening across the country, including in Oregon, for a long time.

Surprise at Charlottesville suggests that violent acts of racism, anti-Semitism, and islamophobia (just to name a few) are new in the United States. In reality, our history is filled with the stories of Emmett Till, Craig Anderson, Philando Castille, and so many more who deserve to be named.

These news stories are usually treated as horrifying individual incidents. As a culture, at first we react strongly, but after several weeks we grow ambivalent, especially if we think we are not personally affected. In reality, incidents of hatred and prejudice are all connected. Woven together, they create the larger fabric of our society. We cannot separate white supremacist attacks in Virginia from the 18 murders of transgender people over the last eight months. In the same way that we cannot separate the Portland MAX attack from the acts of sexual violence perpetrated every day in our country.

At their core, these actions dehumanize people who are usually already marginalized by our society. They inflate and protect the power of the perpetrators of violence. They reinforce the dynamics of power and control that have been at play since our nation’s founding, and before.

To those in our communities who continue to feel threatened by these events, we want to say that we hear you, and that we are here to support you.

Actively working against violence and bigotry should be a priority for every person. We all have the opportunity to influence change. To those who don’t feel like these issues impact them, we want to show you that they do. They impact your neighbors, community members, friends, and friends of friends. They impact children, who look towards adults to learn their self worth and how to interact with the world around them. They impact all of us in ways we cannot necessarily see or feel.

These stories don’t just happen on the news. Prejudices exist around us every day. The more we interrupt oppression in our daily lives, the more accountable we hold people in our communities to the value of humanity and the demand for universal human rights.

Taking action takes courage and humility. If you want to get involved but are not sure where to start, here are some suggestions how:

June Spotlight: Fair Housing Council Bus Tour

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In May, SARC staff participated in the Fair Housing Council Bus Tour of Portland: Fasten Your Seat Belts…It’s Been A Bumpy Ride. Over the four-hour journey, the guides explore how Oregon’s history of social and political discrimination impacts our communities today. Oregon’s viciously racist history is often easy to ignore, especially when we do not have representations of our past confronting us regularly in our present.

The City of Vanport, aptly named for sitting neatly between Portland and Vancouver, led the Oregon in racial integration. Hastily constructed to house laborers flocking from other parts of the country to work in Oregon shipyards, Vanport was home to integrated schools, grocery stores, a fire department, a college, and more. Though imperfect, the Vanport community existed in stark contrast to the rest of the state, steeped in violent roots of social, cultural, and political racism.

On May 30, 1948, a flood decimated Vanport, displacing 40,000 people (40% of whom were black), while public officials remained largely unresponsive. The city was never reconstructed, and 40,000 people never went home. Today, tucked quietly off the road leading into what was formerly Vanport stands an information board about the cities history. And a golf course.

Those who ride the MAX to the Portland Expo Center may notice the beautiful traditional Japanese-inspired gates on the boarders of the parking lot. Many don’t see the gates at all. Some who do see the gates remain unaware of their purpose as a memorial for the over 3,600 Japanese Americans incarcerated in Portland’s concentration camp during World War II. Before the Expo Center, the land was used for animal corrals. Almost overnight, the corrals were turned into barracks, as Japanese families, children, and adults were forced into the camp. Portland became the first city to fully incarcerate its entire Japanese population, and boasted about its accomplishment nationally.

The list could go on and on with examples. The take-away is that for those with privilege, for many of us on that bus, and for many of us who do this work, it can still be too easy to be surprised, and can feel too comfortable to believe our history is not shaping our present.

Fair Housing Council battles the effects of that history daily. If you are interested in fighting housing discrimination in Portland, see what you can do to help.

Sexual Assault Does Not Happen In A Vacuum

Sexual Assault Does Not Happen In A Vacuum

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This year continues to fly by as we head into April, and with so much going on locally and nationally, it’s not surprising things are moving quickly. This month, as we honor Sexual Assault Awareness Month and celebrate SARC’s 40th anniversary, we want to continue to voice our belief that the work we do around sexual assault cannot be treated as a vacuum issue, separate and unaffected by social and political dynamics.

The list of topics swirling around public discourse in our country seems endless, including immigration, climate change, environmentalism, sexism, sexual assault, systemic racism, transphobia, white supremacy, LGBTQIA rights, and much more. Part of doing work to end sexual violence means accepting that all of these issues interact with each other on multiple levels every minute of every day. That is because as people, we each experience and view the world through a kaleidoscope of unique identities and histories. Furthermore, the systems built around us, like government, healthcare, and capitalism, impact all of those identities differently.

SARC operates with the knowledge that sexual assault can happen to anyone, but that it does not happen to everyone equally. Research shows us over and over again that sexual assaults disproportionately occur against women, people of color, LGBTQIA individuals, undocumented immigrants, the elderly, people with disabilities, women in the military, the incarcerated, and people who struggle with financial or housing insecurity. Similarly, changes in local and federal legislation have the potential to disproportionately impact the same vulnerable populations.

Healthcare & Intersectionality

When it comes to prevention, SARC knows that education is key, as is access to resources. While prevention education helps stop would-be perpetrators from ever perpetrating in the first place, access to resources helps make individuals less vulnerable to exploitation and assault, since we know perpetrators often target those who are marginalized in society. Access to employment, culturally responsive healthcare, insurance, housing, schools, and other benefits increases one’s capacity to lead a safe and healthy life. Lately, a major issue regarding access to resources is health care coverage.

Nationally, threats to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) indicate threats to the wellbeing of our community members. Under the ACA, 30 million women gained copay-free access to preventative healthcare, including contraception, domestic violence screening and counseling, postpartum support services, depression screening, and more. Members of LGBTQIA communities were guaranteed protection from discrimination based on identity, orientation, or HIV status. The expansion of Medicaid in most states increased eligibility for coverage for millions more low-income households and individuals, although significant gaps still exist in gaining coverage for all people across income brackets.

As we advocate improving rather than rolling back our federal healthcare laws, we must also look to local government to guarantee protections. House Bill 2232 was recently introduced to the Oregon legislature to provide comprehensive reproductive health care for Oregonians. The bill requires insurers in the state to cover reproductive health services including contraception, STI screenings, prenatal care, and much more. It also protects against gender identity discrimination with language that would, for example, bar insurers from refusing to cover gynecological exams for transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals.

You can track HB 2232’s status here. While we wait for it to be debated and voted on, remember you have the power to reach out to your representatives! Having affordable access and autonomy to make health decisions about our bodies is part of the fight to end sexual violence. It sends the message that all bodies are equal, that bodies have rights, that our bodies are ours.

To learn more about how healthcare impacts women in Oregon specifically, check out the Women’s Foundation of Oregon’s intersectional analysis of the issue.

Healthcare is a great example of how current national issues tie directly to SARC’s work in ways that may not always be obvious. We want to celebrate intersectionality, and be conscious of the ways it influences our work. Recognizing our blindspots with humility and actively addressing them is the only way to make sure we are serving the needs of everyone who may need us.

Identities can be complex, but the bottom line is simple: sexual violence is inexcusable and preventable. The movement to end sexual violence is all of ours. We’ll work from different approaches and perspectives to address it, but we need your help.

Resources: 
Donate >
Volunteer >
More SAAM events >
RSVP to 40th Anniversary fundraiser >

 

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What will you do for SAAM?

What will you do for SAAM?

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April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), but SARC wants you to be more than just “aware.” This year, we organized a series of events around our action-oriented theme: “ACT. EDUCATE. CARE.”

According to Google, awareness is a “concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development.” To be aware is important. It means to be continually conscious of sexual assault in our communities and how sexual violence thrives in our culture. Awareness, however, can also easily slip into passivity. Once you are “aware” of the stark reality of sexual assault, what comes next?

To be part of the movement to end sexual violence, we must use our awareness as a springboard into action. This month, SARC is offering a variety of options for people to get involved.

SAAM

We can ACT. Use our voices, bodies, and influence to share our stories as people affected by sexual violence, directly or indirectly. SARC’s philosophy reflects our knowledge that sexual assault impacts all people regardless of their gender, race, socioeconomic status, faith, immigration status, age, disability, sexual orientation, and all the other complex identities that make us human. It is our diverse experiences that make us resilient and courageous. We can write letters and make phone calls to our representatives. We can volunteer. We can interrupt sexism and other forms of oppression in the daily ways we witness and experience them.

And we can actively support our community members when they take action. Voices Against Violence on April 8th 6pm-9pm at Coyote’s Bar & Grill, is our first SAAM event, where local performers will share their music, poetry, comedy, and more to address sexual violence through their art.

We can EDUCATE. Misinformation and ignorance surrounding the dynamics of sexual assault abound. SARC believes in educating from a place of humility. We believe in calling in rather than calling out. All of us have the ability to educate those around us. By pointing out the normalization of sexual violence in our media. By challenging victim-blaming or perpetrator-sympathetic comments in the news and within our communities. By engaging in primary prevention, working with youth to define and model what healthy sexuality, consent, and healthy relationships look like.

And we can actively continue to educate ourselves. Let’s Talk About Sex(uality) on April 17th 6pm-8pm at the Beaverton Community Center, is our second SAAM event, where a panel of community partners will answer questions about what healthy sexuality and relationships mean to them.

We can CARE. Being supportive of those who are dealing with the impact of a sexual assault is one of the best ways we can counteract the trauma of violence in the first place. Being present, listening, respecting survivors’ choices, allowing each person’s unique healing process to run its course, and focusing on someone else’s needs rather than your wants for them is an incredible way to show that you care.

Whether you’ve survived an assault, are supporting a survivor, or are doing work to end sexual violence, it takes a lot of effort. Part of taking care is having compassion for yourself, which is why SARC’s third SAAM event, Dare to Self Care on April 30th 1pm-4pm at Taborspace, is a whole afternoon dedicated to self-care activities and sustainability.

Awareness and action don’t end when April is over. Think of these events as an invitation to join SARC for the first time, or as a chance to continue your commitment and relationship. The movement to end sexual violence is not SARC’s alone; it is all of ours. We cannot do this without you.

All events are free, open to the public, and family friendly.SAAM 2017 Poster 8.5x14

You can help spread the word. Here are is our poster for these SAAM events, we appreciate your help to distribute through any and all channels and onto community boards, at your workplace break-rooms, schools, you get the picture!

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Learn more about how to volunteer >
Learn more about how to donate >
RSVP for 40 Year Anniversary Fundraiser >

Lobbying to Protect VAWA

Lobbying to Protect VAWA

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Among many notable national events since the assumption of power by the new White House administration, such as the recent immigration and refugee ban, the reinstatement and amplification of the global gag rule, threats to strip Sanctuary Cities and States of federal funding, also comes a threat to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Since its authorization in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act has had an immense impact onFile_006 our country’s ability to address issues around sexual assault, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, and stalking. Thanks to continued bipartisan reauthorizations, countless numbers of services and resources for survivors across the country are made possible through VAWA. Eliminating or even reducing VAWA’s federal funds would directly reduce resources for and the safety of survivors.

To threaten VAWA funding is to threaten the lives of women and their families everywhere. With recent research showing that one million Oregon women and girls experience sexual or domestic violence, one of the highest rates in the nation, SARC’s work could not be more relevant.

VAWA helps fund a variety of SARC programs and services, including our 24 hour Support Line, providing in-person advocacy response and over-the-phone support to survivors in Washington County day and night. VAWA also funds our work with the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, implementing measures from the Prison Rape Elimination Act. SARC’s ability to provide on-going confidential Case Management and Mental Health services to survivors free of charge would be severely impacted, should VAWA be cut or diminished. Agencies like SARC not only provide resources and support to survivors, but also educate our communities on issues surrounding sexual violence. We provide training and education to local Law Enforcement agencies, medical professionals, high school students, and more, with the ultimate goal of reducing rates of sexual violence overall.

Beyond the human and moral imperative of VAWA funded resources, the economic benefit of these programs is substantial. Oregon may already be facing a $1.4 billion deficit, so the prospect of losing federal funding for our local services, thereby putting additional burdens on our state budget, will have a great negative impact. The current costs incurred by survivors as a result of rape is estimated to be a total of $127 billion dollars nationally, a number that would only rise should VAWA be stripped. In fact, another study cited in the same article estimated that VAWA funded programs save $14.8 billion in victimization costs, while the act itself only amounts for $1.6 billion in federal spending.

VAWA costs only $15.50 per woman in the US but saves $159 per woman in the US.

So what can you do? Use your voice, your hands, your influence! Use these links below to call and write your representatives to advocate for VAWA. Whenever possible show up in-person to let your elected representatives know that you feel this is critical funding to stand-up for.

Here are links for our House & Senate elected officials:

> Oregon State Representatives
> Oregon State Senators
> U.S. State Representatives
> U.S. Senators

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Lobby Day 2017

Lobby Day 2017

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On February 22nd, SARC Staff will be taking a road trip to the Oregon State Capitol in Salem for Lobby Day, our chance to make our voices heard in the 2017 Oregon State Legislative Sessions. Throughout the day, staff and volunteers will attend meetings with state representatives and their aides to advocate for legislation that directly impacts our work as an agency to address sexual violence in our communities. This year, the The Oregon Alliance to End Violence Against Women has outlined three legislative priorities: housing protection, funding for emergency resources, and prevention education.

Fighting against a $1.4 billion deficit in Oregon is not easy, but SARC believes these causes need to be prioritized by our local and state governments. The need for stable housing is one of the biggest hurdles survivors face. Pushing for just eviction cause laws and demanding rent stabilization is one way to address the vulnerable situations survivors often find themselves in, without putting a huge dent in the state budget. So often, survivors are left in unstable or unsafe living situations because they have no other options. Requiring just eviction cause from landlords and implementing rent stabilization laws gives people a choice, an opportunity for a life on their own terms. These are relatively simple measures that can easily save lives.

Funding levels for emergency services, such as SARC’s 24-hour crisis line, confidential domestic violence shelter networks, and other essential services, are currently less than half of what is considered the minimum needed to provide safe and consistent access. SARC is pushing for a $2 million increase to the Department of Justice budget for Oregon domestic and sexual violence services has the potential to arm every agency doing this work with tens of thousands more dollars bringing us closer to the minimum needed address need. Dollars that are put to use funding programs such as case management, 24-hour advocate response, 24-hour crisis line support, safe shelter, and so much more. With the reliability of federal funding streams currently in question, the continued support of our state government is paramount in ensuring these services are protected and preserved for Oregonians.

The SARC (Commercially Sexually Exploited Children) CSEC Team recently reviewed and selected a few of the 13 trafficking related bills to focus on this legislative session. They include SB 249, which would implement procedures for a victim of sex trafficking to file a motion to clear a judgement of a conviction for prostitution at or around the time the offense took place. This bill could potentially be a huge stride towards the decriminalization of CSEC victims within the legal system. In addition to this bill, the passage of SB 542 would add the crime of patronizing a trafficked minor to be included under the definitions of a sex crime and child abuse. These are just two of several pieces of legislation that SARC’s CSEC team feel are important to address this session. We encourage you to read these additional bills, also related to Human Trafficking: HB 2141 and HB 2401.

While we are in Salem with hundreds of other agencies and organizations, we need your help back home. Your phones calls matter. Your letters matter. Your voice matters. Here’s a resource to look up your district’s representatives. Call them. Write them. Print this newsletter, print these article links, put a stamp on them, and mail them.

Let your representatives know what is important to you. Remind them that their responsibility is to keep Oregonians safe, that they were elected to heed the voice of the people.

En español >

© Photo by Jimmy Emerson, DVM, flckr

 

Trauma-Informed Peer Clinical Consultation Group

Intimacy Group

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The SARC Alder Program will be offering a FREE 10-week psychoeducational group aimed at addressing sexuality and intimacy needs for adult survivors of sexual trauma starting March 3, 2016. The group will meet Thursday evenings at the SARC Alder Program office.

The group references work done by both Wendy Maltz (The Sexual Healing Journey, 1991) and Staci Haines (Healing Sex, 2007) that addresses intimate, sexual and sensual healing for survivors.

Goals of the group include:

  • Exploring one’s own definitions of healthy sexuality and intimacy in a sex-positive environment
  • Discussing barriers to sexuality and intimacy in a safe, non-judgmental setting
  • Offering tools to increase a participant’s ability to become more in tune with their sexuality while setting and maintaining boundaries

The group addresses sexuality and intimacy directly, therefore, a typical participant has previously participated in an initial support group and/or individual counseling to address sexual trauma and will have developed an array of positive coping skills.

For more information or to sign up for the group please contact Betsy Trumbull, LCSW at 971-708-5771 or via email at betsyt@sarcoregon.org.