The Adams County Commissioners and State Representative Brian Baldridge with staff from Women helping Women and Adams County Childrens Services at Monday’s proclamation of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Patricia Beech)

By Patricia Beech-

To raise awareness about sexual assault, the Adams County Board of Commissioners on Monday, April 1 issued a proclamation declaring April “Sexual Assault Awareness Month”.
“Sexual Assault Awareness Month is intended to draw attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every community member of Adams County,” the proclamation read. “It’s time for all of us to start conversations, take appropriate action and support one another to create a safer environment for all.”
Ohio State Representative for the 90th District, Brian Baldridge, was on hand for the reading of the proclamation. He told the Defender that raising awareness, helping survivors, and prosecuting offenders is essential to bringing about change.
“It’s wrong in our society,” says Baldridge. “We need to continue standing up and speaking out to support those survivors and families who need our help.”
Just as silence and lack of knowledge play a large part in allowing domestic violence and sexual assault to persist, information and awareness are key to preventing it, according to Davina Cooper, Director of Women Helping Women for Adams and Brown Counties.
Cooper said raising awareness is an important step toward ending the shame and stigma that burdens survivors, and setting aside the month of April to raise awareness allows the community at large to offer support for victims.
“This month provides victim advocates with an opportunity to share information with community members about our resources and how they can support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault,” Cooper said. “Just wanting to help is an important step toward ending the problem.”
Women Helping Women provides a 24-hour hotline service for victims and additional information for the public on social media sites including: WomenHelpingWomen.org, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
“The first person to whom a victim reports abuse is an extremely important piece of the survivor’s overall process in dealing with the trauma,” Cooper told the Defender on Monday. “It’s important that members of the public show support for local survivors by believing them when they report they’ve been assaulted or abused.”
Cooper along with Hope Carver, Director of Services for Women Helping Women in Hamilton, Brown, Adams Counties, will host an awareness raising meet-and-greet for the public Thursday, April 4 at Moyer Winery in Manchester from 5-7 p.m.
“It’s an opportunity for us to interact with local residents and let them know what services we provide,” says Cooper. “It’s also an opportunity for us to thank them for the support they’ve given our Women Helping Women organization over the past two years.”
The Women Helping Women organization relies heavily on volunteers to provide services to survivors. Likewise, public support for the agency is evidenced by the number of people who have stepped forward to volunteer.
Cooper says the organization recently completed a fourth, 40-hour advocate volunteer training session.
“We now have gained 22 volunteers from across Adams and Brown Counties,” she says. “I’m the agency’s only full-time staff person, and when I’m not available the volunteer advocates ensure that outreach and direct services still continue. We’re working together because we all need to be a part of the solution to end domestic violence and sexual assault.”
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) makes several recommendations for those who want to be a part of the solution such as: educate yourself and others, help a friend who is being abused, speak up, and be an engaged bystander are just a few.
Talking about the issue openly helps end the shame and stigma that burdens domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. Cooper says information and knowledge are key to creating change.
According to statistics from the NSVRC: one in four women and one in nine men experience violence from their partners in their lifetimes; one in three teens experience sexual or physical abuse or threats from a boyfriend or girlfriend in one year; one in five women are survivors of rape; one in three women and one in six men have experienced sexual violence in their lives; one in four women and one in six men were sexually abused before the age of 18.
NSVRC defines domestic violence as a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. Signs of an abusive relationship include:
Signs of an abusive relationship include: exerting strict control joint finances, social interaction, and appearance; needing constant contact including excessive texts and calls; emotional abuse including insulting a partner in front of other people; extreme jealousy; showing fear around a partner; isolation from family and friends; frequent canceling of plans at the last minute; and unexplained injuries or explanations that don’t quite add up.
The NSVRC defines sexual assault as forced or coerced sexual contact without consent – the presence of a clear yes, not the absence of a no. Sexual assault is a crime motivated by a need to control, humiliate, dominate and harm. It can take the form of: rape; incest; child sexual abuse/molestation; oral sex; harassment; exposing/flashing; forcing a person to pose for sexual pictures; fondling or unwanted sexual touching above and under clothing; and “force” – which may include but is not limited to: Use or display of a weapon; physical battering; and immobilization of the victim.