September 22, 2015

Consent and Sexual Assault: What You Need To Know, What You Need To Teach Your Kids

Consent. A simple word when you look at it. But never has a single word been so widely associated with non-verbal actions assumed to convey its message. Was the fact that he was flirting with me consent? Was the fact that she came home with me consent? General usage regards consent as: an agreement or permission to do or allow something. And therein is the problem. Consent for sexual activity cannot be subject to interpretation. Our language must be clearer. For years, courts and legislatures have tried to define consent. New York followed California as the second state to mandate that colleges...

September 11, 2015

Campus Sexual Assault in Illinois: Progress, But Our Work is Not Done

College students and parents across Illinois recently received welcome news when House Bill 821, Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s legislation to help colleges and universities prevent and address campus sexual assaults, became law in Illinois. HB821, The Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, sponsored by Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) and Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), goes into effect August 1, 2016, and will require Illinois colleges and universities to: Develop a clear, comprehensive campus sexual violence policy, including detailed incident reporting options and university response guidelines;   Notify student survivors of their rights, including their right to confidentiality; of the protections the university can...

August 31, 2015

First Response: The Importance of Listening When Sexual Assault Survivors Tell Their Stories

When New York Magazine published their now-iconic cover story featuring 35 women who reported that, over the course of many years, Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them, social media was ablaze. With Cosby having admitted in a deposition to using Quaaludes with women, it seemed the tide had begun to turn from the aggressive doubting of these women’s accounts to a reluctant acceptance that perhaps Cosby had actually harmed them. Within their stories, and within the stories of so many of the survivors that we at Rape Victim Advocates (RVA) have served in Chicago since 1974, there’s a shared pivotal moment that deserves...

August 18, 2015

BREAK THE CYCLE OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Physical, sexual or psychological harm inflicted by a current or former partner or spouse: that’s the definition of intimate partner violence (IPV) according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Stopping this kind of violence before it begins often means addressing behaviors children learn during their earliest years of development.  Educational programs to help stop this cycle of violence are crucial. IPV survivors may not realize the full extent of the mental and physical harm done to themselves, nor understand its impact on their children and other family members. Without intervention and education, there is a high probability of...

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