Pure Praxis Workshop Empowers U.S. Military Community in Singapore

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Veloicaza | More than 150 U.S. military service members, DoD civilians and family members living in Singapore attended a Pure Praxis educational workshop May 17, 2018. Pure Praxis is a social theater group out of Long Beach, Calif., whose mission is to promote social change through improvisational theater and recreate difficult real-world situations so that audiences can rehearse proactive responses in terms of coping with sexual assault issues. The scenarios during this workshop were based on sexual assault retaliation in which individuals had reported sexual assault incidents whereby the survivor is now experiencing retaliation, ostracism, and maltreatment from their peers at work. (Official U.S. Navy photo by Marc Ayalin)  

SINGAPORE

05.17.2018

Story by Christopher Veloicaza 

Singapore Area Coordinator

More than 150 U.S. military service members, DoD civilians and family members living in Singapore attended a Pure Praxis educational workshop May 17, 2018.

Pure Praxis is a social theater group out of Long Beach, Calif., whose mission is to promote social change through improvisational theater and recreate difficult real-world situations so that audiences can rehearse proactive responses in terms of coping with sexual assault issues. The scenarios during this workshop were based on sexual assault retaliation in which individuals had reported sexual assault incidents whereby the survivor is now experiencing retaliation, ostracism, and maltreatment from their peers at work.

According to Nicole Snell, facilitator for Pure Praxis, the intent of this workshop is to engage the audience in subject matter that people tend to shy away from in terms of sexual assault reporting issues. Snell and her team did this by having audience members role-play as bystanders who had to intervene when they saw couples arguing or saw sexual assault victims being harassed. The role-playing offered participants a different approach to interactive learning.

“We engage the audience to participate and think through scenarios so that they can more thoroughly address certain situations in their real lives,” Snell said.

The prevalence of sexual assault in the military is a big concern and when individuals come forward to report sexual assault, they may receive criticism or experience a hostile response from peers or other individuals. According to Snell, in 2016 the DoD reported to Congress that the U.S. Navy had 955 unrestricted reports and 465 restricted reports of sexual assault while the U.S. Marine Corps had 436 unrestricted and 363 restricted.

For Jill Loftus, director, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, it’s important to empower those who are hesitant in reporting sexual assault – whether restricted or unrestricted.

“If you have a friend who’s the victim of sexual assault, the first person they are ever going to open up to is probably going to be you,” Loftus said. “So you need to be prepared on how to deal with that.”

For the Singapore Area Coordinator leadership, the Pure Praxis workshop was a perfect opportunity in bringing sexual assault awareness and prevention to the forefront of people’s daily lives.

“We hope the community can engage in the interactive training, get out of their comfort zone, and take away sexual assault prevention strategies from the high energy presentation by Pure Praxis,” said Lt. Andrew Harrell, SAPRO for SAC.

• Date Taken: 05.17.2018
• Date Posted: 05.22.2018 23:14
• Story ID: 278020
• Location: SG