As we start 2011 sexual assault awareness month it has made me reflect on personal experiences. As a survivor of two sexual assault I understand the trauma and recovery victims faces. It is not an easy road to walk, but one that can have a shining light at the end if you are able to do the work to get you there. I am proof of that.

Many people are not sure what constitutes a sexual assault. According to California law sexual assault is defines as:

Any sexual activity that is carried out without a persons consent or will, using force, manipulation, and/or coercion. Sexual assault can include many different forms including rape, child molestation, incest, sexual battery, same sex assault, spousal rape, and  acquaintance rape.

Rape is about the need for the perpetrator to have control over the victim. It is not done simply to fulfill a sexual urge. Rape is a violent act that has been carried out via a sexual manner. Continue reading »

Last night, I was asked to do a presentation at OC Interfaith shelter for the teens in their program. I had done presentations there before, but only for their adult participants. So, I wondered if the parents had passed along any of the information I had provided about domestic violence.

I waded through the pouring rain and made it into the teen room and got into teaching groove. After a few minutes a group of about 10 teens ranging from 12-16 drudged their way into the room less then thrilled that the shelter made them attend this program. As I got started I promised them that this was not going to be the most boring two hours of their life. They seemed to relax a bit knowing that they were not going to be lectured to death.

When I do these programs I am always interested in the teens opinions and really look forward to what the way they express their views. When we entered the part of the program dealing with  media gender depiction it was amazing to see them light up and really start to open their eyes to the media messages they are bombarded by. One particular teen, 16 years old, really had a keen insight on what message the advertisements depicted relating to gender difference. As we continued on in the exercise the teens were astounded by how different the media portrays men and women.

As I addressed teen dating violence the teens all knew at least one friend that had been in, or was currently in abusive relationship. This of course supports the statistics about the prevalence of teen dating violence. Yet, they weren’t sure what do or how to handle it. This is something I face quite a bit when doing these programs. Continue reading »