April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, or "SAAM." I think everyone has a favorite cause. Mine is sexual assault/abuse (due - in part - to a friend I had in high school), since today was the day of action for SAAM, I took the opportunity to wear the sexual assault awareness color, teal.
When I was 14 I found out that she had been/was being sexually abused, and thought we never talked about the abuse it's self, I saw the affect it had on her. I saw the terrors she suffered from (about stuff completely unrelated to the abuse), the low self esteem she had, and misconstrued idea of love. Sexual abuse ruined what should have been the most magical, innocent time of her life, and even now she'll have a lot of work ahead of her to regain what most of us take for granted.
She's not the only one. 1 in 4 girls will be sexually assaulted/abused before they turn 18. 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. This is not ok. This needs to end! And we can help. Sexual assault prevention is not discussed enough in our culture, and almost no one is willing to start up the subject of child sexual abuse. It's a disgusting war happening in our midst, and it hits so close to home and no one even wants to think about it, but that doesn't help. People have to know what's going to to know the symptoms of someone who might need help, and better yet - prevent it!
I've set up a donation widget on the right sidebar of my blog (below the sponsors). I couldn't figure out how to get a widget that would go directly to the organization, so for now the money will go into my personal PayPal account, and then on the first of May I'll donate everything that's been raised to either Darkness to Light or Rainn (thanks to Hannah for pointing out this great resource to me!)
Please take a day this month to wear teal and tell everyone why you are. I have a link up widget on the bottom of this blog post, and I'll keep it open all month so if you do be sure to add your link!
Before I close this post I'll leave you all with a few more statistics:
Common Symptoms:
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Substance Abuse
- Self Harm/Self Injury
- Substance Abuse
- Self Harm/Self Injury
- Depression
- Flashbacks
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Sleep Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Dissociative Personality Disorders
- Suicide
- etc.
- Flashbacks
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Sleep Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Dissociative Personality Disorders
- Suicide
- etc.
General statistics:
- 44% of Sexual Assault Victims are under the age of 18.
- Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
- 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police
- 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jai
- Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim
