Sexual Assault Awareness Month

The month of april is very significant for a lot of things.

One of them is that April is Sexual Assualt Awareness Month.

It is an annual campaign to increase public awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and people on ways to prevent sexual violence.

The symbol of Sexual Asualt Awareness Month is a teal ribbon.

With the civil rights era in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, movements for social change and equality gained traction.

Activists for equal rights began to challenge the current system, despite the fact that open discussion of the realities of sexual assault and domestic abuse was prohibited at the time.

During this time, Black women and women of colour led the charge. Rosa Parks, for example, worked at the intersections of racial and gender-based violence.

Survivors and advocates rallied in the following decades to demand policies and funds to help survivors, such as the Violence Against Women Act of 1993. (VAWA).

Changes as significant as VAWA highlighted the necessity for national measures to prevent sexual violence. Advocates had been hosting activities, marches, and observances linked to sexual abuse during the month of April, sometimes during a week-long "Sexual Assault Awareness Week," even before SAAM was officially commemorated nationally in 2001.

In recent years, SAAM has emphasized on reaching out to audiences other than activists, including people who may not understand they can help prevent sexual violence. Recent resources have focused on how parents, religion leaders, and coaches may become change agents, as well as the practical steps that any of us can take to avoid sexual assault.

The widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the launch of first-ever virtual SAAM campaign in April 2020, bringing consent concepts to a digital setting. In 2021 and 2022, the focus on prevention in online spaces was maintained, reflecting the world's growing reliance on technology to connect.

Those who want to eliminate sexual assault and abuse will always find ways to advocate for awareness and prevention, as the history of SAAM has proven.

We can be confident that SAAM will continue to expand and adapt in the future, reaching even more people with the message that a world free of sexual assault and abuse is achievable.