Sexual Assault Awareness
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, please don't hesitate to reach out to us for help.
Call us at 715-779-3706.
Pick up a teal ribbon from FHS to display near your home to support sexual assault survivors. You could also win raffle prizes.
Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual activity or contact that you do not consent to. Sexual assault can happen through physical force or threats of force or if the attacker gave the victim drugs or alcohol as part of the assault. Sexual assault includes rape and sexual coercion.
According to the National Congress of American Indians, Indigenous women experience significantly higher rates of sexual violence than non-Indigenous people.
Indigenous women face the highest rates of sexual assault in the United States, 56.1% of Native women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, and Native Americans are twice as likely to experience sexual assault than other races.
Native Americans ages 12 and older experience 5,900 sexual assaults per year. 41% of sexual assaults on Native Americans are committed by a stranger; 34% by an acquaintance, 25% by an intimate partner or family member.
Sexual assault can include:3
- Any type of sexual contact with someone who cannot consent, such as someone who is underage (as defined by state laws), has an intellectual disability, or is passed out (such as from drugs or alcohol) or unable to respond (such as from sleeping)
- Any type of sexual contact with someone who does not consent
- Rape
- Attempted rape
- Sexual coercion
- Sexual contact with a child
- Fondling or unwanted touching above or under clothes
Sexual assault can also be verbal, visual, or non-contact. It is anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual activities or attention. Other examples can include:4
- Voyeurism, or peeping (when someone watches private sexual acts without consent)
- Exhibitionism (when someone exposes himself or herself in public)
- Sexual harassment or threats
- Forcing someone to pose for sexual pictures
- Sending someone unwanted texts or “sexts” (texting sexual photos or messages)
Consent is a clear “yes” to sexual activity. Not saying “no” does not mean you have given consent. Sexual contact without consent is sexual assault or rape.
Your consent means:
- You know and understand what is going on (you are not unconscious, blacked out, asleep, underage, or have an intellectual disability).
- You know what you want to do.
- You are able to say what you want to do or don’t want to do.
- You are aware that you are giving consent (and are not impaired by alcohol or drugs).
Sometimes you cannot give legal consent to sexual activity or contact — for example, if you are:
- Threatened, forced, coerced, or manipulated into agreeing
- Not physically able to (you are drunk, high, drugged, passed out, or asleep)
- Not mentally able to (due to illness or disability)
- Under the age of legal consent, which varies by state (link is external)
Remember:
- Consent is an ongoing process, not a one-time question. If you consent to sexual activity, you can change your mind and choose to stop at any time, even after sexual activity has started.
- Past consent does not mean future consent. Giving consent in the past to sexual activity does not mean your past consent applies now or in the future.
- Saying “yes” to a sexual activity is not consent for all types of sexual activity. If you consent to sexual activity, it is only for types of sexual activities that you are comfortable with at that time with that partner. For example, giving consent for kissing does not mean you are giving consent for someone to remove your clothes.
