Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kathleen Baughman | U.S. Air Force Technical Sgt. Daquan McLean listens attentively as Amy Nowak, Sexual...... read more read more
Subscribe
Every April, the DoD observes Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM) by focusing on creating the appropriate culture to eliminate sexual assault and requiring a personal commitment from all service members.
“The origins of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month can be traced back to the social movements of the 1970’s, specifically the civil rights and feminist movements,” said Nowak. “Despite these large social movements, the important dialogues they started and their influence on support resources and legislation, it was not until 2001, when the U.S. first nationally recognized April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and even more recently that prevention was added to the title and we recognize April as Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM).”
At JBAB, SAAPM events have included a virtual fun run, a calendar of daily reflections, and a proclamation signed by JBAB and 11th Wing leadership, which has travelled across the base so passersby could add their signatures to demonstrate their support.
While SAAPM is recognized in April, the SAPR program’s awareness and prevention efforts are a year-round endeavor. Nowak emphasized that normalizing discussions of sexual assault and prevention is a vital step in increasing reporting and decreasing incidents.
“The number of reports each year is much smaller than the estimated number of incidents,” said Nowak. “60% of women and 80% of men who have experienced sexual assault will never tell another person. With this in mind, it is often a sign of increased education and awareness in a community when the number of reports increase in a given year because it means that more people feel comfortable coming forward with their experiences.”
Although annual training is required, Nowak believes it is beneficial for leaders to make time to bring SAPR program team members in more frequently throughout the year for ongoing training. By doing so, groups may have more focused discussions on topics like the neurobiology of trauma and create more tailored approaches to wingmanship within that specific community.
“The training provided by the military emphasizes bystander intervention, which is incredibly important,” said Nowak. “But not always an opportunity that presents itself.”
She suggests asking yourself these questions as an additional way to help prevent sexual assault and violence in everyday life.
“How do you communicate in the world on a daily basis?” She asked. “What are you posting on social media? Do you have healthy relationships? If someone needed to talk to you about something, would you be supportive and believe them?”
Nowak believes that these questions can lead individuals to choose language that can further change the culture surrounding sexual assault and create a community where violence has no place to thrive, during SAAPM, or any time of year.
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2021 13:12 |
| Story ID: | 395801 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Not Just April: Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling makes SAPR year-round priority, by TSgt Kathleen Baughman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
