Support Survivors and Dismantle Rape Culture

Story by McKenna Christy

Local Athens and Ohio University non-profit organizations support survivors of sexual violence and combat rape culture.

Jennifer Seifert (left) and her associate Rene Redd (right) outside of the SAOP office in Nelsonville.

This story contains information about sexual violence that may be sensitive for some people. But the following information also includes resources for survivors.

On college campuses the rates of sexual violence are high and difficult to prevent while misogyny remains a pillar of the higher education experience. Culture of Respect — an organization committed to ending sexual violence on campuses — reports that one in four female undergraduates are sexually violated after enrolling into their university. The case for male undergraduates is one in 14.

Survivors deserve the support they prefer, but rape culture often prohibits them from receiving help. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, four out of five students who are women and between the ages of 18-24 did not report to law enforcement after being sexually violated. 26 percent of students did not file a report of the incident because they believed it was a personal matter. Some people do not feel systems in place will support them if they do seek help.

Organizations in Athens County and at Ohio University encourage survivors to receive help and can support them in ways traditional systems may not. The Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program (SAOP) and the Survivor Advocacy Program (SAP) are resources for survivors with leaders who know how to help with compassion and knowledge.

Jennifer Seifert, the executive director of SAOP, received her Bachelor of Science in communication studies and her Ph.D. in communication and media studies from OU. Seifert has been working at nonprofits for six years and defines rape culture as a buildup of misogynistic actions or comments, whether they be large or small.

“… You can think of [rape culture] almost like a pyramid, that there are these foundational behaviors or activities that then, in some ways, normalize and justify an ever-increasing kind of other behaviors, beliefs and ultimately, acts such as gender-based violence,” Seifert explains. “And so, at the very bottom level, you have things like sexist jokes, a lot of gender-based discrimination and sexism. Then it kind of escalates up to say, wage discrimination in employment.”

While the SAOP has the resources to support both community members and college students, systems such as law enforcement differ between the two. This is the reason why the SAOP is geared more toward community-based support, but the mission remains the same: to support survivors.

“We are always trying to look at everything,” Seifert says. “Every system that a survivor might interact with identifying how that system is either not helpful or re-traumatizing or helpful. And helping survivors navigate that system, and then helping educate and empower [themselves] to realize the change that they want to see.”

The SAOP achieves their goals of supporting survivors by evaluating the organization internally through the ways people interact with each other in the workplace. They want to ensure people’s identities are respected. In turn, the anti-oppression practices in their work environment allow for a greater understanding of how to properly assist community members.

“Over the years we’ve done bystander intervention trainings, we teach healthy sexuality — so comprehensive evidence-based sexual health education in high schools and with elementary school students,” Seifert says. “We’re launching a new prevention program that focuses on economic empowerment because what we know is if you provide economic support to women, girls and families, it prevents child abuse, sexual violence and domestic violence.”

Along with these steps to prevent sexual violence comes the necessity of recognizing the language used to address sexual violence. Kimberly Rouse, the director of the SAP, chooses not to label a survivor’s experience unless they choose to themselves.

“We don't approach our work from the basis of if you have to meet [the] legal definition from Ohio Revised Code, or even the university's policy definition, because we know that those definitions don’t always encompass the full spectrum of problematic behaviors or situations,” Rouse says. “And a lot of times with situations like this, there are a lot of gray areas.”

Rouse and the advocates at the organization focus on listening to survivors instead of labels.

“More so we tell people ‘if they're uncomfortable with interactions that have happened to them, or that they've been involved with’ that we're here to support them, and to connect them to resources and to answer their questions and really just listen,” Rouse says.

The advocates at the SAP are licensed social workers and assist people in many ways. People can reach an advocate by calling the 24/7 hotline and from there are able to speak with them virtually or in person. The advocate can meet survivors at the hospital or police station depending on their preference.

Accessible resources are crucial for the safety and wellbeing of survivors of sexual violence. Education can help people better explain their experiences and find support best suiting for their needs. Oakley — whose name is changed to protect their identity — is a junior studying public health at OU, a certified peer health educator for POWER/GAMMA and an intern with Planned Parenthood where he answers people’s health-related questions through an anonymous chatline.

Peer health education is a passion of Oakley’s and helps him combat sexual assault culture, which has affected him personally. Oakley was sexually assaulted when he was 15 years old.

“It definitely impacted my experience identifying as a lesbian even though I was sure I identified that way,” Oakley says. “I was so sure about it starting [at] like 13 and 14, I was out super early and then that happened, and I sort of just distanced myself from that label and I was going through some gender stuff too and that certainly didn’t help my relationship with my body …”

But Oakley’s dedication to helping others through sex education can make a difference. He believes one of the focal points of sexual health education should be consent, and POWER/GAMMA uses an acronym to help sum up what consent looks like.

“And so many people, like consent is not taught to them or they just hear the word and they’re not given a definition or a way to think about it. The way we talk about it in POWER/GAMMA is we use the FACE model; it stands for fully conscious, acting freely, clear intent and enthusiasm. And I think it’s great,” Oakley explains.

Peer education about consent can help prevent sexual violence. But rates of sexual violence are still high and if a person feels violated in a situation with another person, that is arguably more important than being able to label an experience with any legal definition — and is a warrant for support.

“What we've seen is that sometimes people will read [legal definitions], and they'll think, ‘Mine wasn't bad enough, right? So, I don't deserve that service.’ And we really want to get away from that because we have so many people who are kind of suffering in silence alone,” Rouse says. “They feel like they don't meet criteria for services or that it wasn't bad enough. And we have the capacity to serve and to support them.”