Sparking Empowerment to End Campus Sexual Assault

Source: Bridget Anshus

My life by the numbers: According to 2015 projections from the National Center for Education Statistics, I am one of 20.2 million students and 11.5 million females enrolled at an American college or university. The experiences of one of my best friends, two of my fellow committee members, and one of my male acquaintances are representative of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center‘s statistics that one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted during their years in college.

As a sophomore at American University in Washington D.C., I have witnessed, heard and intervened in many situations involving sexual assault and consent. Living, growing and learning on a campus that is under investigation due to a Title IX complaint is not something I accept. I have committed myself to change the norm and empower others to take action against sexual assault.

My activism started when I was a freshman. I am a part of the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, a four-year curriculum centered on the creation and execution of a social action project during students’ freshman and sophomore years. For last year’s project, I was a part of a group of seven that worked to address rape culture on AU’s campus by developing “Piece of the Solution,” an initiative based on the concept that, while we are all pieces of the problem, we are also all pieces of the solution.

The project consisted of: collecting pledges to combat rape culture from students in person as well as having students submit their pledges on our Tumblr page; gathering anonymous stories of experiences with sexual assault, sexual harassment, or rape; and hosting an awareness event. We also recorded instances on social media in which this issue was perpetuated, particularly on platforms such as YikYak and Facebook. These stories, pledges and posts were displayed on campus during the second part of our project, the Awareness Wall Event. In the end, we engaged 600 people and administrators of at our university, many of whose stories served as evidence that this culture is present on our campus.

Although we had a successful project, much more must be done. I’ve decided to continue working to increase access to information about sexual health and sexual assault at both the college and high school level. For my sophomore year project, I founded “Positively Protected,” an organization that aims to educate and promote contraception, consent, and body positivity by teaching a curriculum to high schoolers about these topics, handing out safe sex kits, and maintaining a social media page with access to additional information.

As part of my campus work, I joined the 100 other students around the country participating in the “Consent: Ask for It” campaign, a partnership between Trojan Condoms and the Great American Condom Campaign, a project by Advocates for Youth. This campaign provides tattoos, stickers, and removable wall paper for campus organizations to distribute and display an effort to jumpstart conversations about consent. I am also serving as the Youth Organizing Intern for the campaign at Advocates for Youth.

In the end, I hope to empower others to stand up alongside survivors and against rape culture and sexual assault. I hope that I am contributing to eliminating the one in four and one in 16 statistics by helping to educate others and allow traditionally muted voices to be heard.

Bridget Anshus is a student at American University and an intern at Advocates for Youth. Visit http://www.askforconsent.org/ to learn how you can become involved in the “Consent: Ask for It” campaign.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To learn more about the NSVRC and how you can help prevent sexual violence, visit here. Read all posts in the series here.

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Sparking Empowerment to End Campus Sexual Assault