Educate Yourself

Knowledge is power. There are several campus presentations and resources available to assist students, faculty, and staff. You can learn how to interrupt or intervene in an incident of sexual violence. You can also learn how to recognize choices, behaviors, words, actions, or attitudes that contribute to unhealthy, harassing or violent environments.

Common Misconceptions:

MYTH: Sexual assault is often the result of miscommunication or a mistake.

FACT: Sexual assault is a crime, never simply a mistake. It does not occur due to a miscommunication between two people. Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual contact obtained without consent through the use of force, threat of force, intimidation, or coercion.

MYTH: Sexual assault won’t happen to me or to anyone I know.

FACT: Men, women and children of all ages, races, religions, and economic classes, and can be and have been, victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault occurs in rural areas, small towns and larger cities. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a rape or attempted rape occurs every 5 minutes in the United States.

MYTH: Sexual assault is provoked by the victim’s actions, behaviors, or by the way they dress.

FACT: Sexual assault is NEVER the victim’s fault. Sexual assault is a violent attack on an individual, not a spontaneous crime of sexual passion. For a victim, it is a humiliating and degrading act. No one “asks” for or caused their assailant to commit a crime against them.

MYTH: Most sexual assaults occur between strangers.

FACT: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows: a neighbor, friend, acquaintance, co-worker, classmate, spouse, partner or ex-partner. Studies show that approximately 80% of women reporting sexual assaults knew their assailant.

MYTH: Sexual assaults only occur in dark alleys and isolated areas.

FACT: A sexual assault can happen anywhere and at any time. The majority of assaults occur in places ordinarily thought to be safe, such as homes, cars and offices.

MYTH: Women falsely accuse men of sexual assault or “cry rape.”

FACT: Reported sexual assaults are true, with very few exceptions. FBI crime statistics indicate that between 2% and 10% of reported rapes are false. This is the same rate of false reporting as other major crime reports.

MYTH: Men cannot be sexually assaulted.

FACT: Men can be, and are, sexually assaulted. In Colorado one in seventeen men are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Sexual assault of men is thought to be greatly under-reported. Any man can be sexually assaulted regardless of size, strength, sexual orientation, or appearance.

MYTH: Most sexual assaults are interracial.

FACT: Almost all sexual assaults occur between members of the same race. Interracial rape is not common, but it does occur.

MYTH: People who commit sexual assaults are mentally ill, abnormal perverts.

FACT: Sexual offenders come from all educational, occupational, racial and cultural backgrounds. They are “ordinary” and “normal” individuals who sexually assault victims to assert power and control over them and inflict violence, humiliation and degradation.

MYTH: Victims who do not fight back have not been sexually assaulted.

FACT: Anytime someone is forced to have sex against their will, they have been sexually assaulted, regardless of whether or not they fought back. There are many reasons why a victim might not physically fight their attacker including shock, fear, threats or the size and strength of the attacker.

MYTH: A rape survivor will be battered, bruised, and hysterical.

FACT: Many rape survivors are not visibly injured. The threat of violence alone is often sufficient cause for a woman to submit to the rapist, to protect herself from physical harm. People react to crises in different ways. The reaction may range from composure to anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and suicidal feelings.

MYTH: “If you wouldn’t have been drinking, you wouldn’t have been sexually assaulted.”

FACT: Alcohol is a weapon that some perpetrators use to control their victim and render them helpless. As part of their plan, an assailant may encourage the victim to use alcohol, or identify an individual who is already drunk. Alcohol is not a cause of rape; it is only one of many tools that perpetrators use.

MYTH: Serial rapists are uncommon.

FACT: Most every perpetrator is a serial rapist, meaning that they choose to use coercion, violence, threats of force, etc., to assault people on a repeated basis.

MYTH: When women say no, they really mean yes.

FACT: Yes means yes! When someone says yes, s/he is explicitly giving consent. Silence does not equal consent. It is the responsibility of the person initiating or escalating sexual activity to gain consent at each and every level. If you are ever unclear about your partner’s wishes, ask for clarification. If your partner says no or seems unsure, respect that person and her/his wishes.

MYTH: If a person is aroused when s/he is assaulted, then it is not really sexual assault.

FACT: Orgasm does not mean that someone "enjoyed" the sex, or that they wanted it. Orgasm can be a natural biological reaction that someone can’t control; it does not mean that forced or coerced sexual activity was consensual and often this is used to silence the survivor.

MYTH: The reason that men get raped is because homosexual men are raping them, and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals rape more or are more likely to be sex offenders than heterosexuals.

FACT: There are no statistics that support the idea that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals are more likely to commit sexual assault or be sex offenders than heterosexuals. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately likely to be heterosexual men.

MYTH: It is OK to pressure or talk someone into sexual activity.

FACT: No! This falls into the category of coercion. Coercion is a tactic used to intimidate trick of force someone to have sex with him or her without physical force.

Behaviors to watch to spot potential victims/survivors:

COMMON BEHAVIORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS

Someone who's been subjected a victim of sexual assault may display the following behaviors:

Depression

Self-harming behaviors (such as cutting themselves)

Suicidal behaviors (talking about suicide)

Low self-esteem

Sexually transmitted infections

Sudden anxiety or worry about situations that never seemed to worry them in the past

Avoiding specific situations are places

Withdrawal from classes or suddenly have failing grades

Increase in drug or alcohol use

WARNING SIGNS SOMEONE COULD BE A VICTIM OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

Sadly, the majority of sexual assaults are committed by someone that the victim knows. Whether it's friends, family, friends or family members, or an abusive partner, they will do whatever they can to cut the victim from their support system. Here are some warning signs that may indicate your loved one could be a victim of sexual assault.

Withdrawal from relationships and activities. For example, they're spending less time with friends, quitting sports teams, and dropping out of classes.

They complain their partner gives them a hard time when it comes to engaging in social activities or their partner limits their contact with others.

They mention their partner is refusing to use safe sex practices such as refusing to wear condoms or not wanting them to use birth control.

They complain they are being pressured to do things that make them uncomfortable.

They complain their partner is controlling their means of communication such as answering your phone or responding to text messages and intruding on private conversations.

They display physical signs of abuse such as unexplained bruises, cuts, or broken bones.

Q&A for policies and procedures related to Sexual Assault, domestic/dating violence, and stalking

What to do if you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, or stalking

What does the Sexual Assault examination entail and why is it important?

What is a SANE Exam? S = sexual A = assault N = nurse E = exam

The SANE Exam is a way to collect evidence that may be on your body from the sexual assault. A SANE Exam is also called an evidence collection exam. Evidence that is sometimes collected is spit (saliva), bodily fluids such as semen, blood, vaginal fluid, or other physical evidence like body hair, dirt, or skin. The SANE exam is done at a hospital by a specially trained nurse, called a SANE Nurse.

A SANE Nurse knows about sexual assault and how to care for someone who has been sexually assaulted. You can still receive additional medical care from your choice of doctor at any time. The SANE Nurse will use cotton swabs to collect possible evidence from parts of your body including your genitals/private parts or other areas where you may have been touched by the offender.

This evidence will be stored in a box which will be your sexual assault evidence kit. When you agree to have evidence collected through a SANE Exam, it does not mean you have to do every part of the exam. For example, you may not want to do the pelvic exam part of the SANE Exam. However, evidence may be lost if you choose not to have the pelvic exam part of the SANE Exam completed. This could mean that evidence that was lost could not be used later to help build a case against the person who sexually assaulted you.

The SANE Exam can take as long as 2-6 hours to complete. To help you feel as comfortable as possible, you can ask for a heated blanket, food, or drink. It is important to know that if there was sexual contact in your mouth, the SANE Nurse will want to use the cotton swabs to collect possible evidence from your mouth before you eat or drink. Also, the SANE Nurse will want to use cotton swabs to swab your mouth to get your DNA before you eat or drink. You can ask to have the TV turned on to help make you feel more comfortable or distracted while the SANE Nurse does the swabs on your body.

If you have a support person with you, you can ask them to hold your hand, stand by your head, or have them leave the room (if you do not want them to see the swabbing of your genital area).

The SANE Exam also has questions the SANE nurse will ask you about what happened during the assault. These questions can feel scary and uncomfortable. The reason for these kinds of questions is to make sure the details of what happened during the sexual assault are recorded as clearly as possible. The answers to the questions can help later if you choose to report the sexual assault to police. The SANE Nurse also asks these questions so she can know how to treat you medically. Sometimes, photos may be taken of any visible injuries on your body and used to document injuries from the sexual assault. These photos may be used as evidence in a case against the person who sexually assaulted you, (if you choose to report to police).

During the SANE Exam, the SANE Nurse will ask to collect a sample of your urine and blood. The SANE Nurse is sometimes helped by a lab technician to collect blood and urine samples. The lab technician will ask your name and birthday, and then will draw blood using a needle. You can ask to hold the advocate’s hand (or your support person’s hand) if needles or having your blood drawn makes you feel nervous. The SANE Nurse will have these samples sent to the lab to be tested. Part of these tests will show if STIs and pregnancy are already in your body. It is important to note that you will not know any other test results based on these samples while you are at the hospital. Only the pregnancy test result (to determine if emergency contraception could be taken) will be shared with you at that time.

For males, the SANE Nurse will perform a visual inspection of the penis, scrotum, and anus. The SANE Nurse will ask you if there was any sexual contact on your penis, scrotum, or anus. The SANE Nurse will swab any area on your genitals with cotton swabs that may have had sexual contact to collect possible evidence. If there was anal penetration (a penis, fingers, or object was inserted inside the anus) for males or females, a SANE Nurse may decide to have an anoscope procedure done. You can refuse this part of the exam at any time. However, potential evidence could be lost if this part of the exam is not completed.

Terminology pertaining to Sexual Assault