April is Sexual Assault Awareness
and Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted.
Every 10 seconds a report of child abuse is made in the United States.
This month the spotlight shines upon these uncomfortable issues in an attempt to both open people’s eyes to their prevalence and offer survivors a healing space to have their voices and their stories heard.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC) April theme, Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity, brings with it a reminder that the issue of equity is ever present and interwoven into every aspect of our communities, including sexual violence and abuse. Some populations, particularly those that are marginalized, face exposure to higher rates of abuse.
How does this show up? Some groups for example face more barriers in seeking resources from organizations like Mosaic Georgia due to lack of transportation, language barriers, and cultural stigmas. And others face discrimination and a lack of skilled professionals who know how to address abuse within complex gender and sexual identities in the LGBTQ community.
Across the board, the destructive ripple effect set off by child abuse and sexual assault shatters multiple pieces of the survivor and their families’ lives.
Rebuilding looks different for different people.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness
and Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted.
Every 10 seconds a report of child abuse is made in the United States.
This month the spotlight shines upon these uncomfortable issues in an attempt to both open people’s eyes to their prevalence and offer survivors a healing space to have their voices and their stories heard.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC) April theme, Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity, brings with it a reminder that the issue of equity is ever present and interwoven into every aspect of our communities, including sexual violence and abuse. Some populations, particularly those that are marginalized, face exposure to higher rates of abuse.
How does this show up? Some groups for example face more barriers in seeking resources from organizations like Mosaic Georgia due to lack of transportation, language barriers, and cultural stigmas. And others face discrimination and a lack of skilled professionals who know how to address abuse within complex gender and sexual identities in the LGBTQ community.
Across the board, the destructive ripple effect set off by child abuse and sexual assault shatters multiple pieces of the survivor and their families’ lives.
Rebuilding looks different for different people.
‘Mosaic’ Georgia is committed to helping put these pieces back together to support our clients of all ages, circumstances, and backgrounds in becoming whole again.
This April Mosaic Georgia is taking action by centering survivors and generating awareness around Gwinnett County. Here’s a look at what the dedicated outreach team has put together in various corners of the county to shine the light on abuse and offer space for a ‘mosaic of healing’:
Pinwheels for Prevention: Mosaic Georgia is planting “Pinwheel Gardens” in various childcare centers in Gwinnett County during the month of April. Prevent Child Abuse America’s 15-year-old national campaign brings awareness to the issue of child abuse and encourages prioritizing prevention to help eliminate the origins of abuse. The shiny pinwheels create a visual reminder that all children deserve a bright future and that we each play a role in creating safer communities that ensure their health and happiness. Click here to donate by planting a virtual pinwheel in our online “Pinwheel Garden”!
Clothesline Project: The Clothesline Project will be displayed at The Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center April 14th-27th and features t-shirts with short messages created by survivors of sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence. Various colors represent the different forms of abuse and are hung along the clothesline to honor the victims themselves and others affected by abuse. The array of t-shirts on the clothesline brings a visual awareness to the issue and educates the community about what goes on in their own neighborhoods. This project originally started in 1990 in Cape Cod to highlight interpersonal violence.
What Were You Wearing: This powerful display depicts the clothing survivors were wearing when they were assaulted and helps to dispel a victim-blaming myth that certain types of clothing somehow invite a sexual assault. Mosaic Georgia’s What Were You Wearing exhibit will be in the Georgia Gwinnett College library from April 1st–19th. A poem by survivor Mary Simmerling inspired the first exhibition at the University of Arkansas in 2014.
Denim Day: The Mosaic Georgia team alongside Georgia Gwinnett College will be wearing jeans in solidarity with survivors on this April 26th day of action to combat victim blaming and educate others about sexual violence. It stems from a case in Italy in 1998 when an imprisoned rapist’s conviction was overturned on an appeal that stated the sex was consensual because the young woman was wearing tight jeans that could have only been taken off with her help. Italian women showed up to work the next day in jeans to protest the unjust decision. This day of awareness occurs on the last Wednesday of Sexual Assault Awareness month each April.
