If it’s Sexual Assault Awareness month, just what is Sexual Assault?
WHAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT?
Yesterday, I felt it important to remind folks that April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. Today, let’s spend a bit of time discussing just what constitutes “sexual assault.”
Jacobellis v. Ohio was a case that appeared before the United States Supreme Court in 1964. The State of Ohio had convicted the manager of a motion picture theater with showing an obscene film. On appeal before the Court, the question arose as to the definition of obscene. Concurring with the majority opinion that the film was constitutionally protected, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote that he could not define obscene, “but I know it when I see it.”
That observation leads us to speak of sexual assault in the broadest of terms. From the National Sexual Violence Resource Center [www.nsvrc.org]:
“Sexual violence is any type of unwanted sexual contact, including words and actions of a sexual nature against a person’s will… A person may use force, threats, manipulation, or coercion to commit these acts.”
Stated simply: Sexual behavior of any sort reqires consent.
In my novel East of Apple Glen, I depict episodes of rape, incest, seduction with drugs, and forced abortion. These depictions are not included for their shock value or prurient incitement. Rather, I use these acts to demonstrate that while the perpetrators commit these acts from a position of power, those victimized are able to take back their power by speaking their truth.
Four out of every five women and two of every five men experience some type of sexual violence or harassment during their lifetime [www.stopstreetharassment.org]. At the same time, multiple studies indicate over 60% of these episodes go unreported [www.rainn.org]. These statistics mean victimized persons are often left alone, or with a small cohort of advocates, with all kinds of negative feelings.
If you have experienced any sort of unwanted sexual activity, and if you have not reported the episode, or sought counseling, or professional materials in your efforts to move beyond your pain to begin healing, perhaps you can relate to Nathan and Robbye, the characters in my book, as they seek life beyond their trauma.
