Shoreline City Council proclaims April Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Shoreline Mayor Chris Roberts, on behalf of the City Council, has proclaimed the month of April Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month calls attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every person in this community. The statistics are staggering and show that we must do more to address this issue in our community, especially with our youth. Young people experience heightened rates of sexual violence:

• Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment harm our community, and statistics show one in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives (Black et al., 2011). 
• Child sexual abuse prevention must be a priority to confront the reality that one in six boys and one in four girls will experience a sexual assault before age 18 (Dube et al., 2005).
• Young people experience heightened rates of sexual violence, and youth ages 12-17 were 2.5 times as likely to be victims of rape or sexual assault than adults (Snyder and Sickmund, 2006).
• On campus, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted during their time in college (Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher, and Martin, 2007).

We must work together to educate our community about sexual violence prevention, supporting survivors, and speaking out against harmful attitudes and actions. Prevention is possible when everyone gets involved.

The first step is increasing education, awareness, and community involvement. It’s time for all of us to take action to create a safer environment for all.

The City of Shoreline joins advocates and communities across the country in taking action to prevent sexual violence. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and each day of the year is an opportunity to create change for the future.

Black, M. C., Basile, K.C, Breiding, M. J., Smith, S. G., Walters, M. L., Merrick, M. T., ... & Stevens, M. R. (2011). National intimate partner and sexual violence survey: 2010 summary report. Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf.

Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Whitfield, C.L., Brown, D. W., Felitti, V. J., Dong, M., & Giles, W. H. (2005). Long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse by gender of victim. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28, 430–438. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2005.01.015

Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T. D., Fisher, B. S., & Martin, S. L. (2007) The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study (NCJ 221153). Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf

Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offenders and victims: 2006 national report. Retrieved from Montgomery County MD Government: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/Serious_Incident_Report/4.pdf