Sexual Wellness

Sexual Violence Education

The following documents are available for download: Volunteering - Campus Advocates This article explains how to become a volunteer campus advocate. (215.7 K) If You Are Raped A one-page document helpful for those who have been raped (76.5 K) If Someone You Know Has Been Raped A one page document helpful to those who are support people to rape survivors. (28.5 K) Sexual Assault Awareness Month Visual Display These materials can be used for bulletin board or other displays (713.5 K)

Assertiveness skills are an important weapon!

• Make decisions about how you want to be treated by other people.
• Establish boundaries of behavior that you will and will not tolerate.
• Pay attention to the way you feel about the way people interact with you.
• Trust your feelings and instincts, both with strangers and people you know.
• Be aware of you surroundings. This is especially important if you or people around you are drinking or using drugs.
• Make decisions about your sexual boundaries prior to engaging in sexual behaviors, and communicate them CLEARLY and VERBALLY to your partner.
• Speak up! Let people around you know how you expect to be treated.
• Be a good friend. Watch out for your friends who might be in potentially dangerous situations. Speak up to friends who's behavior is offensive, abusive or harmful towards others.
• If your boundaries and voice are not being respected, leave the situation if it is possible to do so.

What you need to know about drugs used to facilitate sexual assaults

Alcohol and other drugs are frequently involved in sexual assaults on campus, and can play a part even for students who do not drink or are not sexually active.

Here are some important facts:

1. Alcohol is the most prevalent drug used to facilitate sexual assault or rape.
2. Drugs like GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine are most often referred to as "Rape Drugs*". All of these drugs have turned up in Columbus in recent years.
3. A person who has been drugged might appear very drunk, wild, or even hyper-sexual. When this behavior seems to be out of character for someone you know, be a friend and keep them out of harm's way.
4. Symptoms for having been drugged include feeling ill, tired, or unable to control your body. If you believe that you may have been drugged it is safest to stay in places that are well lit, and where there are people whom you trust. DON'T leave by yourself or go to an isolated place. Tell someone how you're feeling and stay near a group.
5. Substances used to facilitate a sexual assault can be added to alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks alike, including water and soda.

   For more information about alcohol and sexual assault, visit Facts on Tap.
   For more about Drug-Facilitated Rape, go to Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center.

* Drugs do not distinguish themselves as "date rape drugs", therefore the term "drug-facilitated sexual assault or rape" is used.

An Examination of Strategies to Prevent Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault or Rape

1. Most strategies focus on controlling the behavior of the potential victim. These strategies are based on the idea that drug-facilitated rape can be avoided by the potential victim if she follows the “rules” carefully.

2. Many of these strategies are indeed common sense given the information we have about the prevalence of drug-facilitated rape.

3. But many are also unrealistic and difficult to practice in the real world. E.g. “Don’t take any beverages from someone you do not know well and trust.”

4. Many strategies don’t address the reality of how wo/men are being drugged and raped. See examples from newspaper articles.

5. Such “avoidance” strategies place the burden of prevention on the shoulders of women, who are then blamed if they “break a rule” and are raped. If we give people the idea that drug-facilitated rape is avoidable, then we blame the victims for not avoiding it.

6. Furthermore, the victim is encouraged to blame himself/herself for not taking adequate precautions, even when such precautions are unrealistic.

7. Some strategies do seem more practical. These involve socializing in groups of people who agree to stay together and take care of each other.

8. Another practical strategy involves education about the effects of predatory drugs, and how to recognize quickly if you have been drugged.

Finally, educational efforts and prevention strategies should be aimed at the mostly male population who abuse predatory drugs, or who are participant bystanders when other men use predatory drugs.

Spring Quarter Self-defense (Free, five week class offered to all women in the community):

Thursdays, April 10,17, 24, May 1,8. 

 6-8 p.m.  Call 292-4527 to register.

Spring Quarter Self-defense for Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay & Transgender People (Free, five week class offered to all LGBT people in the community):

Mondays, April 8, 15, 22, 29, May 6

6-8 p.m. Call 292-4527 to register.

We need your help!

The OSU Campus Advocacy Program (CAP) consists of SARNCO advocates.  Campus advocates are OSU students who have received specialized training to provide information, crisis intervention and referrals. Campus Advocates volunteer their services on OSU's main campus.

Next training session:  June 9,10,11,12 and 13 from 9am-5pm.  Please contact Maytal at mruss@ohiohealth.com or 566-5847 for more information.  To find out more about SARNCO, please visit their website at http://www.ohiohealth.com/body.cfm?id=980