Ohio State’s first official Sexual Assault Awareness Month will host 35 virtual events until April 22, offering support for survivors and prevention education for the Ohio State community. Credit: Courtesy of Cate Gary Heaney
Ohio State’s first official Sexual Assault Awareness Month will host virtual events until April 22 to support victims and survivors of sexual assault and advocate for sexual violence prevention.
The Student Wellness Center partnered with student organizations, legal professionals and victim advocacy groups to hold 35 online events about Title IX, consent, healing from trauma and other events related to sexual violence. A full calendar and Zoom links are available on the Student Wellness Center’s website.
“What I really like about these events, what I’m excited about, is that they are a really great opportunity to first celebrate and support survivors, but also highlight the importance of prevention and to highlight some of the work that’s being done on campus,” Cate Heaney Gary, wellness coordinator and organizer of Sexual Assault Awareness Month with the Student Wellness Center, said.
There will be multiple events throughout Sexual Assault Awareness Month geared toward helping victims and survivors heal, and many events have anonymity measures to respect participants’ privacy, Heaney Gary said.
“There’s something that everybody can learn from some of these events, which is awesome, but I think it’s also really important to have some of those spaces that are just for survivors,” Heaney Gary said.
Allison Kennebeck, a third-year in psychology and student assistant to the wellness ambassador program with Sexual Assault Awareness Month, said she will host one of several events devoted to violence prevention and education from the Student Wellness Center. “Buckeyes Got Your Back,” held Tuesday at 5 p.m., will teach participants how to be active bystanders and intervene before sexual assault or any kind of violence occurs.
“I think a lot of people don’t see it as an issue for themselves. I think they see it as something that rarely happens, but when it does, it’s very sad,” Kennebeck said. “They don’t realize how prevalent the issues are.”
“Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Patients: What Can Nurses Do?” will be held Tuesday at 5 p.m. with Ohio State’s Nursing Students of Color and Take Back the Night to address how health care workers and nurses can advocate for victims and survivors, Mia Cariello, president of Take Back the Night and a fourth-year in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said.
Heaney Gary said Sexual Assault Awareness Month events strive to represent a variety of communities at Ohio State. The Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization, a statewide organization providing resources for LGBTQ+ victims and survivors of discrimination and sexual violence, will host an event “The LGBTQ+ Community and Sexual Violence” Tuesday at 6 p.m. to cover how sexual violence impacts the LGBTQ community.
“There’s a lot of different topics that are represented here, and I think something that we were really intentional about doing was trying to have events that go across the entire spectrum of violence prevention,” Heaney Gary said.
Enlighten, an anti-human trafficking student organization, will look at human trafficking from a medical perspective with “Human Trafficking in Healthcare” Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“Take Back the Night Survivor Celebration” Thursday at 7 p.m. discusses the contributions past activists and victims and survivors have made to Ohio State’s campus and policy, Cariello said. Participants will be able to share their own stories and thoughts on activism and trauma.
“That event is for anyone who wants to speak out about their story, wants to learn more about the anti-rape activists at Ohio State and more importantly want to try to really find a community here at OSU that can support survivors, even after all the trauma that they might have been through,” Cariello said. “I definitely want them to know that we believe them and that we’ll advocate for them.”
“More Than a Body: Healing Body Image After Sexual Assault” on April 12 at 3 p.m. will examine the connection between sexual assault and body image, and participants will learn how to “de-center the body as the primary source of self-worth,” according to the Student Wellness Center website.
On April 16 at 7 p.m., the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio will host a closed and confidential survivor writing retreat for 15 victims and survivors of of sexual assault, sexual harrassment or relationship violence to process their trauma and healing, according to the Student Wellness Center’s website.
The College of Nursing will host “What is a Forensic Nurse and What if There is no SANE in Sight?” April 22 at 6 p.m. about the importance of forensic nurses, who perform forensic exams — commonly known as “rape kits” — on victims after an assault.
Five asynchronous events are available throughout the entire month, Heaney Gary said, including a virtual multimedia exhibition by artist and Ohio State alum Honey Lazar titled “Seen + Heard.” The exhibition consists of photos and testimonies from 24 volunteers in white T-shirts about their experience with sexual violence.
Kennebeck recommended participants find events that relate to their own interests and keep an open mind as to how often sexual assault may occur in their own lives and how to work to correct a culture that perpetuates it. She said it’s best to show up for uncomfortable, hard conservations about sexual assault, she said, so that in the future, these conversations don’t have to happen again.
Students are encouraged to register for Sexual Assault Awareness Month events so accommodations such as closed captioning can be provided as needed. A full list of events can be found on the Student Wellness Center’s website.
