April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), and the Women’s Center is busy with events and workshops for the NC State community to participate in. 

Sara Forcella, the rape prevention and education coordinator in the Women’s Center, chaired the planning committee for this year’s SAAM. Forcella summed up the purpose of the month through the national theme, ‘embrace your voice.’

“The purpose of SAAM is to really raise awareness of sexual assault being something that occurs every day and that occurs to people regardless of gender identity or race or sexuality, class, any kind of identity that you might hold,” Forcella said.

Lila Crick, a second-year studying aerospace engineering, is vice president of the Movement Peer Educators that contribute to the planning of SAAM. Crick elaborated on the intentions of the event within the community.

“Prevention is something we are aiming for,” Crick said. “We want people to understand how they can prevent [sexual assault] which is why we have workshops where we teach people what they can do about it. [Sexual assault] is going to happen, but you can do a little to prevent that by instilling positive characteristics in people, especially when they’re young.”

Crick is pleased that the previously week-long event has developed into a national month-long event. 

“I think it’s important that we dedicate a whole month to this problem because there are different facets to it,” Crick said. “It’s important that we don’t just spend a day or a week on it.”

Josie Cranfill, a first-year studying polymer and color chemistry, is a member of Period at NC State, a group dedicated to empowering women. Cranfill believes in the importance of understanding the healing process for survivors.

“We’re becoming much better at recognizing the mental impacts that [sexual assault] can have,” Cranfill said. “People that have been assaulted tend to neglect their physical health after that, and having Sexual Assault Awareness Month is so critically important in helping people that have been assaulted in keeping up their physical health as well as their mental health.”

Cranfill also hopes that SAAM on college campuses brings attention to issues taking place specifically at college campuses.

“It brings more awareness, not just to women’s organizations, but having Sexual Assault Awareness Month brings it to the larger campus, particularly groups where sexual assault has been an issue like Greek life at NC State,” Cranfill says.

The Clothesline Project was the kickoff event of SAAM. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness about sexual violence. The four campus community centers have T-shirts displayed with the words of primary and secondary survivors of sexual violence.

“Each color [shirt] represents a different form of violence,” Forcella said. “White is someone creating a T-shirt for someone that has passed away due to violence. Gray is for stalking. Pink is sexual assault. Light blue is childhood sexual assault. They all represent different things. It’s a way for folks to be able to come and kind of process through their healing and experience.”

Some of the words and images on the shirts created are explicit. There have been discussions of whether displaying the shirts is appropriate, but Forcella emphasizes the importance of having the project on display.

“It could be potentially a part of a healing process for a survivor to create that T-shirt,” Forcella said.  “It raises awareness for our campus community. There should be some level of discomfort with our campus community to know that our fellow Wolfpack members have dealt with this. We don’t want anyone to be triggered by it, but we also see a need for it.”

One event that the Women’s Center is excited to host is its keynote speaker, Pierre Berastain. Berastain will be speaking on the evening of April 17 in Talley 4140 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

“[Berastain] identifies as a survivor and undocumented immigrant who is a DACA recipient,” Forcella said. “He is going to talk about the intersections of being undocumented, being a survivor, being someone that identifies as male and someone that identifies as LGBTQ and how all those intersections impact a survivor’s ability to report, and a survivor’s healing process. I think he’s going to touch on a lot of different parts of sexual violence that we don’t always think about.” 

Another event focusing on intersectional aspects of sexual assault is the Supporting Male Survivors discussion that will take place in the Women’s Center on April 19 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.  This event will begin with a documentary that is followed by discussion.

“[The event] is looking at how to support our male survivors that don’t always feel like they have a voice in the movement of sexual violence prevention and awareness,” Forcella said. “It also will talk about how masculinity has shaped the narrative for men who are childhood survivors or adult survivors of sexual violence.”