Chicago Unites for Change: April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month Highlights Crucial Advocacy Efforts

CHICAGO (WLS) — This year marks the 25th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which was first established in 2001.

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According to the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, over 45% of women and 16% of men across the nation will encounter sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Additionally, statistics indicate that one in three women face sexual harassment in the workplace.

Rachel Hines serves as the associate clinical director for the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual assault.

Hines highlighted that most assaults are perpetrated by someone known to the victim.

“Statistically, there’s a 60-to-80% chance that the perpetrator is someone the victim knows. In my 16 years of working in this field, I can only recall a few cases where the survivor didn’t know the assailant,” Hines stated.

These days, technology is changing how people are targeted.

“Kids are being targeted in online game forums and chats. Ex-romantic partners are releasing intimate photos and videos of their partners,” she explained.

Hines also cited reports of a “rape academy” website. She said its “where men were going to this website to exchange information and photos and videos around how to assault their wives. Also, AI is a big concern when it comes to sexual violence. There’s been trends of folks taking people’s videos or photos, altering them creating fake pornography. This is also something that has been targeting children as well.”

Hines said sexual assaults are likely underreported.

“Often times when survivors there’s a lot of scrutiny on the survivor. the victim like ‘what did you do, didn’t you do, what were you wearing, why were you here, did you want this in some way?’ any number of things. That’s hard to face. There’s also consequences, when there’s someone that you know, if it’s someone in your family, if it’s your work colleague, etc. there can be a lot of fallout. So it has, like, a severe impact in lots of different areas in a survivor’s life.”

For survivors seeking help, the Rape Crisis Hotline is: 888-293-2080.

For more information on the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, which is celebrating 150 years:

https://ywcachicago.org/

You can contact the Illinois domestic violence hotline at 1-877-863-6338 click here for more information.