By Iris Brey
The Daily cardinal
Because filing a police report, going to University Health Services and talking to your friends about it is sometimes not enough, one student decided to organize another service for the community, a ""sexual assault justice and accountability group.""
Amanda Harrington, a UW-Madison senior, has witnessed many situations in which people close to her had to deal with sexual abuse. She said that in most cases the perpetrator of sexual abuse is not a complete stranger, but someone who is close to us. Seventy-seven percent of violent crimes against females are committed by relatives, according to Nancy Worcester, a UW-Madison women's studies professor. Harrington recounted how ""another relative was, when she was a young girl, accosted and nearly raped by a trusted neighbor of hers in the ‘safety' of her own home.""
Furthermore, Harrington had to face a complex situation when two of her high school girlfriends were sexually assaulted ""by a man who was not only a roommate of one of the women, but a friend of both.""
After being close to all those stories, Amanda unfortunately became a victim as well. She was raped by an older man in Italy during a study abroad program. After the incident, Harrington became involved with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin one year ago as an intern and continues to spend 10 hours every week coordinating volunteers.
And Harrington is not alone. Recently, many sexual abuse crimes have taken place in Madison. From the woman who was raped in an alley behind Ian's pizza, to the women in the UW marching band supposedly forced to suck on sex toys and to Patty, the 1997 victim, who finally received an apology from the police. These accounts underline how prevalent sexual assault can be in our lives.
Worcester gave alarming statistics: one in three women will be raped in their life and one in four will experience date rape in college.
Because sexual abuse is so frequent and yet discussing it is so taboo, Harrington thinks it is necessary to start talking about it. She found the strength to share an intimate part of her life with people to get a discussion started. She said the goal of the biweekly meeting is to ""lead to a broad coalition of individuals in the larger Madison community who will act in solidarity with the intent of bringing justice to survivors, realization to perpetrators and appropriate, respectful disclosure to the larger community in reaction to specific acts of sexual assault.""
The first meeting was held Oct. 3 on the east side of Madison. After two hours of discussion, the group asked many important questions including how to define sexual violence. Members of the group also described the difficulty they face when recognizing sexual violence in their own lives, establishing and enforcing their own boundaries and engaging others in conversations about sexual assault. Participants asked questions on how to handle rumors about sexual assault and how to address an assailant within the community.
In the aftermath of a group member's assault, the group was able to facilitate a discussion between the perpetrator and another woman he assaulted. Even if the meeting did not answer every question, it was a positive experience for the survivors to address such issues in a safe environment.
Furthermore, it enabled the perpetrator to hear what that woman had to say, listen to her demands for accountability in a public setting and try to understand how a single night of sexual violence can have an effect on a life on a daily basis. The group found that the perpetrator, like many men, apparently did not realize at that time that he was raping her and that the encounter had serious consequences. They told him even if a woman cannot clearly utter ""No,"" if her body does not respond or is tense, her partner should not push it.
The focus of the group is not to reduce perpetrators of sexual violence to a stereotype, but to understand how there is a person behind every violator.
""The goal is to bring a perpetrator to realization by communicating, not by ostracizing him,"" Harrington said.
She believes this is one way the cycle of sexual violence can be broken and warns sexual violence can happen to anyone.
""We are living, working and related to sexual violence survivors, many of whom never seek justice, and sexual violators, many of whom are never held accountable. I want to live in a community that builds an intolerance for sexual violence not just in theory, but in practice,"" she said.
Next week, the group will discuss issues and strategies related to the disclosure of information about perpetrators of sexual assault. If you want to start making a difference and wish to attend the group's discussion, e-mail Amanda at harrington2@wisc.edu.
