Acronyms and Awareness
When I started working at First Light, I joked that I needed a cheat sheet for the many, many acronyms that came with the job. For our agency alone, there’s the CAC (Child Advocacy Center) and STC (Sexual Trauma Center), VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) and VAWA (Violence Against Women Act), and TF-CBT (Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to name a very few.
These are acronyms that are important to our work every day, and they can be confusing for anyone unfamiliar with their meaning. People like those who work at First Light speak in this shorthand that becomes a second language. But in April, one acronym stands above the rest: SAAM.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), and this year marks the 23rd nationally recognized SAAM! The first SAAM was coordinated by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in 2001 drawing on years of advocacy and prevention work done across the country in the month of April. The purpose of SAAM is to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence in our society and to educate people about how it can be prevented.
If you follow First Light on social media, you’ve very likely seen our posts about SAAM each April. Each year, SCCADVASA (South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) chooses a theme for SAAM. This year’s theme is “It’s Your Move”. This campaign focuses on individual actions and choices to help prevent sexual violence. Each week in April, First Light and SCCADVASA will be using our social media platforms to educate our followers on different ways YOU can make a difference!
This week – April 1-7 – asks you to #ChooseRespect. Respect is the foundation of all healthy relationships. For example, as a society, we focus largely on what women should or shouldn’t have done to prevent their own sexual assault. But by asking men in particular to choose respect, this campaign reminds us that asking for consent, regardless of your relationship status, is a sign of respect for your partner. You can participate in SAAM this week by having an open and honest conversation with your friends and relatives about respecting boundaries and understanding consent.
Next week – April 8-14 – keep the conversation going with the hashtag #TalkAboutIt! If you’ve been reading this newsletter this year, you’ll remember that words matter. Age-appropriate conversations with your children about their bodies, consent, boundaries, and, when they’re ready, sex, help them understand healthy relationships and will help them protect themselves. Need some help with this conversation? There are many wonderful age-appropriate resources here.
April 15-21 will ask you to know your yeses and nos. My niece turns two today (Happy Birthday, darling girl!), and “no” is a favorite word. Every time she says it with conviction, it makes me proud! She is clearly expressing what she does and does not want, and as long as she isn’t hurting herself or someone else, I’m more than happy to respect her “no”. Children, particularly female children, tend to lose that strong “no” as they get older to help themselves fit in or to make other people happy. This SAAM, help set the children in your care up for success by talking with them about how to identify and communicate their boundaries.
Finally, April 22-30, SAAM reminds you not to stand by. Beyond respecting boundaries, bystander intervention is the first line of defense in preventing sexual assault. During a First Light event, before most of my staff knew my husband, I had no less than three of my employees pull me to the side and ask if the man who’d been talking to me all night was bothering me. That is bystander intervention. It wasn’t forceful or overbearing – it was a simple question to check on my safety.
Bystander intervention can also look like holding people accountable for inappropriate jokes and language. Casual jokes at the expense of women and historically marginalized groups help create the societal norm that it is okay to disrespect the people in those groups. Disrespect can breed violence, particularly sexual violence. So, if you hear a joke that isn’t funny or a comment that makes you uncomfortable – speak up! In short, if you see something, say something.
The final week in April, we’ll also celebrate Denim Day! Join First Light for this international day of awareness by wearing your denim on April 24th and posting a photo with #DenimDay2024.
Beyond this year’s theme, you can participate in SAAM by supporting First Light. Sign up to sponsor or play in the inaugural First Light Classic on Friday, May 3rd. Make a donation – large or small – to help us keep providing free direct services to those impacted by sexual assault and child abuse. Follow us on social media and share our posts. There are so many ways you can help us help others this April (and beyond!).
Happy SAAM, everyone!