Recently, there has been an increase in media attention to the occurence of sexual assault in the military. A lawsuit was filed in February by survivors against the Department of Defense for allowing a system of zero accountability to perpetrators and putting survivors at risk for further harassment and punishment. Sexual assault in the military is estimated to occur twice as often as in the civilian population.

Military sexual assault prevention programs currently focus on early training in the military and bystander intervention. However, there are no systematic requirements or standards for prevention workshops or survivor support services.

The Defense Sexual Trauma Oversight and Good Governance Act (STRONG) Act, has been introduced to the House of Represenatives by Reps. Niki Tongsas and Mike Turner. If passed, this act would so several things in response to sexual assault in the military:

          -Access to legal counsel
          -Communication with Victim Advocates
          -Standardize sexual assault programs in the military
          -Require sexual assault training at every level of Professional Military Education(PME)

Personally, I have never encountered widespread discussion or criticism of the military's current response to sexual assault. It appalls me that this is so widespread yet so silent.

To show your support for the Defense (STRONG) Act, write to your representative here.

Recently, I was asked to reflect on my sex education. Although I have read about abstinence only education over and over again, I have never given much thought to my own experience. I attended a Catholic grade school and an all girls Catholic high school, so my sex education was more than a little flawed. After thinking about any kind of education I have received about sex, I broke it down by grade level.

5th grade: Rather than actually talking about human growth and development and normal changes in our body, my grade school sent home a Family Life workbook at the end of the year and gave the option to our parents to discuss it with us. My parents did not talk about changes in my body with me and it sat in my closet the entire summer.

8th grade: Towards the end of theyear, we spent roughly 4 weeks talking about sex. The first week was devoted to talking about the biology of sex. The second talked about pregnancy and they made us watch a graphic movie that had a woman giving birth. The third and fourth weeks we wrote down questions we had about sex and our teachers answered them for us. It is interesting to note that the teachers leading this dicussion were my religion and my science teacher. If someone asked about condoms, we were told they didn't work. Not only that, sex before marriage is a mortal sin. The last day they split the boys and girls up. I remember being told that a man only wants one thing-sex, and he will lie to you to get it. Once you have sex with him, he'll leave you. The girls talked about how emotionally damaging sex was. The boys, however, talked about porn.

High School: Three of the four years I was in high school, a local Catholic pregnancy center came in to talk to us about sex. They passed around candy to get us to raise our hands. They told us how awful abortion was and again made us watch graphic videos. They told us that if you have an abortion, you are much more likely to commit suicide. They encouraged us to sign virginitely pledge cards promising to save ourselves for marriage. My sophomore year in my health class, we learned about STIs, but no mention of sex really came into the conversation. It was just this is was the worst case of chlamydia you have ever seen looks like, and these are the symptoms. They did not tell us to be abstinent, but didn't tell us to use protection either, it was like there was no way WE were going to get these infections, because obviously we wouldn't be engaging in any type of sexual activity. In my morality class my junior year, we were told that masturbation was a sin. We were handed a list of all of the things you can do besides have sex, like go to a movie or the park. My senior year, the center came in for 2 entire weeks of religion class. Like I had heard over and over again, sex is considered a wonderful gift from God, but only after your married. Also, that sex only has two purposes: 1. being intimate with your husband & 2. becoming pregnant. Since contraception prevents pregnancy, it is a sin. The only acceptable way to prevent pregnancy by the Catholic Church is Natural Family Planning. We were told condoms were effective only 31% of the time, and did not prevent against HIV. They never mentioned oral sex or any other kinds of sexual activity. They made us watch a movie about an engaged couple. The woman was so psychologically upset because she had slept with other men. The man, however, had saved himself for marriage, and now she felt guilty and not worthy because he saved himself and she didn't. They told us to think about our future husbands. They laid out a sheet called the “marriage bed”. They passed around cards and said you slept with the man or you slept with the woman. They made everyone who had slept with the couple stand on the sheet, crowding the bed, and asked is this what you want on your wedding night? They also talked about how guilty we would feel if we had sex before marriage because the man we were marrying had saved himself. Interestingly, they also told us ways we could be a good wife, like thanking our husbands every chance we got for everything they do for us.

More...

April has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month for over 10 years. Its goal has been to bring awareness about sexual violence as well as educate communites about prevention of these crimes.
This year, SAFER(Students Active For Ending Rape) is advocating for a change from awareness to activism. One way to be a part of this initiative is to sign the pledge promising to take an active role in ending sexual violence. Anyone, not just students, can do it.

At the University of Cincinnati this Sexual Assault Awareness Month, here are just some of the many things going on:

Reel Sex Film Festival: Dinner & Movie about film relating to sexual health issues. The first film is Let's Talk about Sex, an award winning film by James Houston

Pop Praxis: Social Justice & the Media : a conference discussing the implications pop culture has on ideas about race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, and more...and how pop culture can be an avenue for social change

Relay for Life Team: If you didn't know, Relay for Life is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society where teams stay for 18+ hours walking around and participating in fundraising activities. UC has the largest Relay for Life in Ohio and volunteers from the Women's Center are participating. For our fundraiser, we are doing a Panty-Palooza! We are buying a bunch of different kinds, styles, and sizes of panties, stenciling on sexually positive phrases like “Consent is Sexy”, “Reclaim”, and “yes Means Yes”, selling them, and providing cool accessories like feathers, glitter, fabric paint, & more to make them extra awesome. Take Back the Night is the same night as Relay so we are providing information on that at Relay. We will also have teal ribbons and suckers with sexual statistics!

Tabling/Chalking

Passing out free condoms & playing awesome games!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but overall I think this will be the best Sexual Assault Activism Month UC has ever had!

What are your plans for Sexual Assualt Activism Month?

When I saw this video, I was completely shocked. Especially when a Gahanna-Jefferson school district spokesperson reacted to the inappopriate lesson by saying that this was part of the 5th grade curriculum. Yes, diversity education is and should be an integral part of every child's education, but nothing about a mock slave auction is educating students about diversity. It is clear that continued diversity training is an integral issue for educators as well.

Reading the comments about the video on YouTube, I noticed many felt that the teacher was just helping students understand what it felt like to be a slave or slaveowner in a frank way. But what can be gained from humilation? What can be gained from encouraging 5th graders to engage in humiliating behavior?

It seems like all too often we  become surrounded my negativity.Frankly, So here are two really awesome things happening in my community right now:

Here in Cincinnati, the YWCA has an amazing battered women's shelter that houses up to 65 women and children, and is the only domestic violence shelter in Hamilton County. But they don't stop there. They provide a wide array of programs and services, including the Alliance for Immigrant Women. With over 20 participating organizations, the Alliance for Immigrant Women aims to respond to the needs of immigrant women and educate service providers about various issues related to immigrant women and domestic violence. Recently, a member of the AIW wrote an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer describing what the Alliance for Immigrant Women does and the many obstacles immigrant women face in the wake of domestic violence here in the United States.

Also, the University of Cincinnati Women's Center will be performing The Vagina Monologues this Friday and Saturday! I have never seen it by have heard awesome things and am really looking forward to going!

So January 22nd, 2011 was the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a woman's right to an abortion. It still surprises me that after 38 years, there is still so much upheaval over this decision. It's easy to assume that now, in 2011, Roe v. Wade is just an accepted norm...unfortuantely that is not the case.

How does Roe v. Wade impact us today?

Even though it's been 38 years, Roe v. Wade is consistently challenged and many attempts have been made to place limits on it. For instance, in Ohio, Rep. Fende has attempted to restrict the availability of abortions after 20 weeks.  The battle over abortion is arguably one of the most controversial  today, and is usually a hot topic during elections even in 2011. In the past, extreme acts of violence have been commited against abortion clinic staff members. The annual March for Life, a march on Congress every year of anti-abortion supporters, claims to have had record numbers in attendance this year. 

It seems clear that although Roe v. Wade has existed for 38 years, the fight for the right to choose is long but over. So keep fighting. Write to your representatives, discuss the importance of the right to choose with your friends and colleagues, and stay educated on current abortion issues.