April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month


Each year April is designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The purpose of SAAM is to draw attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and has public health implications for every community. Safer Society supports the aims of SAAM, believing that sexual assault will only be reduced and eliminated when we view it as a public health issue and work together to prevent it. Education about sexual issues is an important part of prevention efforts. With all of the recent focus on unhealthy sexuality and child abuse, it’s important to remember that healthy sexuality is an important part of everyone’s life. This April the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is sponsoring Tweet About It! Tuesdays to provide a way to start conversations about healthy sexuality.

Tweet About It! Tuesdays are healthy sexuality chats happening on Twitter every Tuesday in April as part of SAAM. Experts will lead a one-hour live, real-time discussion of healthy sexuality beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Here’s the list of topics and hosts by date:

  • April 3rd: Healthy Sexuality & Preventing Child Sexual Abuse hosted by Joan Tabachnick (@engagebystander)
  • April 10th: Healthy Sexuality & Gender Norms hosted by michael munson (@tgwarrior)
  • April 17th: Healthy Sexuality in Later Life hosted by Alison Bellavance (@AliBellavance)
  • April 24th: Healthy Sexuality, Consent & The Purity Myth hosted by Jessica Valenti (@Jessica Valenti)

To participate, log in to Twitter.com each Tuesday in April at 2 p.m. Eastern time and search #TweetAboutIt. Follow the real-time discussion and participate by using this hashtag (or#) when you tweet. Send your healthy sexuality questions to @NSVRC, the chat hosts, or to resources @ nsvrc.org.

For more information about Tweet About It! Tuesdays, visit the SAAM page at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

NSVRC also has fact sheets to support each of the healthy sexuality topics. The fact sheets are avialable in both English and Spanish. Each provides some basic information, provides a scenario for practice, and suggestions for moving forward. The list of fact sheets and links to the English and Spanish editions, plus other resources are available on the NSVRC’s resources page.

Stop It Now! is also offering resources and events tied into SAAM. On Wednesday, April 25th, they are offering a free webinar How Understanding and Responding to Sexual Behaviors Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse. For more information and to register, click here, and then click on Take a Webinar.

Safer Society Press offers books and pamplets dealing with healthy sexuality and prevention. Here’s a partial list that will link you to additional information: