Sexual assault. Itâs an issue that has everyone talking at the moment â and itâs not an easy one to talk about.
May is Sexual Assault Awareness month, organized by Halifaxâs Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, which raises awareness about the impact that sexualized violence has on our communities.
Earlier this month, Halifax Regional Police announced a second round of the âDonât be that guyâ poster campaign, using materials that have been a familiar around campus over the past year. Originally created by the Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton, the posters were adapted for ±«Óătv by the and .
âNova Scotia has the highest rate of sexual assault per capita in Canada, and the majority of assaults occur to females between the ages of 13 and 25, so the university population is a vulnerable population, just given the demographics,â explains Gaye Wishart, Dalâs harassment prevention/conflict management advisor.
âDonât be that guyâ â or a bystander
While many awareness campaigns about sexual assault target women â advising them on personal safety â this one turns the tables to focus on men.
âAll too often, these campaigns can have an erroneous âblamingâ message: if you hadnât done this, the situation wouldnât have happened,â says Mike Burns, Dalâs director of security. âBut this turned the focus around to the male perspective: thereâs a responsibility on your part to ask for and receive valid consent.â
The Dal editions feature a second message as well â not just âDonât be that guy,â but âDonât be a bystander.â The idea is that we all have a responsibility to stop sexual assault, whether that means asking a housemate to back off if theyâre being too aggressive with someone, or making sure a friend gets home safely if theyâve had too much to drink.
âThatâs a key part of the message,â says Burns. âAs much as we talk about Rohypnol and other chemicals, alcohol is actually the number one date-rape drug⊠We deal a lot on campus with 17, 18-year-olds away from home for the first time, and weâd be naĂŻve to think there wouldnât be alcohol involved in their social lives at times. Thatâs why itâs important to say to the men on campus, âJust because she canât or isnât saying no, that doesnât mean you have consent.ââ
Wishart says the campaign also helps illustrate that the majority of sexual assaults happen between individuals who know each other.
âItâs not âstranger danger,ââ she says. âItâs not somebody jumping out of the bushes at you. Itâs acquaintances, sometimes friends. Most of the time, sexualized violence occurs with someone that you know.â
Getting help, finding support
In addition to the poster campaign, the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Harassment Prevention, Dal Security and Residence Life are currently developing a sexual assault protocol for campus.
âIf someone is sexually assaulted, is the first person theyâre going to come and see me?â asks Wishart. âProbably not. Our office is certainly open and willing to speak to whomever, and people do come in and report, but theyâre more likely to report first to a [resident assistant], a friend, South House or someone in Health Services. So we want to make sure everyone has access to a protocol on how to respond appropriately in a way thatâs not going to be more damaging to the individual, and which lets them know what resources are available to them.â
The university is also developing a system for anonymous online reporting for sexual assaults: a way for individuals to report an incident if theyâre not comfortable doing so in person. The individual whoâs reporting would be given an overview of the supports and resources available in the community, and their report would give us more information about assaults on campus.
âIf someone is not comfortable coming forward, itâs still important that we know about it,â explains Burns. âFor example, if we know there have been four incidents in the past three weeks in the same area on campus, then weâve got a real community safety problem to address. That knowledge is useful even if an individual doesnât want to come forward.â
When students do report an assault, either to Wishartâs office, to Dal Security or another unit on campus, the common message is support.
âSometimes students just want to tell their story,â says Wishart. âFrom our end, we want to make sure theyâre safe, that they have the appropriate medical follow-up and, from there, weâre able to chat about next steps â whether thatâs the legal route, counseling, a no-contact agreement or anything else they need.â
Speaking up
Above all else, Wishart and Burns hope these sorts of efforts get the Dal community talking about a topic that, all too often, stays far too quiet.
âWith the Rehtaeh Parsons case, which was a very horrific incident in the life of the Halifax community, this is nothing new,â says Wishart. âIâm the chair of the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre board and I can tell you, the staff at Avalon are hearing these kinds of stories very regularly.â
âThe provincial government has come up with some short-term solutions but I think there needs to be a long-term strategy, focused on prevention and education as opposed to the counseling after the fact. Thatâs important, of course, but we need to do a better job educating youth about consent, about speaking up and not being a bystander in situations that are making them feel uncomfortable, for any number of reasons.â
Dal also continues to expand its first responder training, with support from Avalon, working with everyone from RAs in residence to orientation leaders. And this fall, look for a new set of posters around campus, focusing on encouraging bystanders to speak up about sexual assault.
âThe idea is that if you see something, say something,â says Burns. âSometimes all it takes is someone stepping into a situation when itâs just getting started and saying, âLeave her alone.â We want people to trust their instincts â theyâre usually right.â