Prevention and Peer Support

1. It's okay to know your boundaries and to speak up about what you want and what you do not want.
2. Know your limits. How far do you want to go with a date?
3. Communicate your limits clearly.
4. Back up your words with a strong voice and body language.
5. Respect yourself. Know that what you want counts.

A healthy relationship supports both individuals in being their true selves. Unhealthy relationships limit, manipulate, or harm self-identity. Be honest when assessing these key factors:

• Mutual respect: Value each other for who you are, not who you want the other to be.
• Trust: Share thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or harm.
• Honesty: Be truthful and trust in your partner's honesty.
• Support: Help each other be your best selves.
• Fairness: Ensure equal give and take in the relationship.
• Separate identities: Maintain your individuality.
• Communication: Take time to listen, understand, and express yourself clearly.

Guidelines for a healthy sexual relationship:

• Always ask for and receive clear affirmative consent before initiating sexual contact.
• If someone is incapacitated by alcohol or substances, they cannot give consent. Initiating contact in such cases is abuse.
• If your partner expresses uncertainty or says no, stop immediately. Healthy relationships rely on ongoing communication and consent.

Unhealthy or abusive relationships
Abuse can take many forms, including:

• Sexual Violence: Engaging in sexual activity without affirmative consent.
• Intimidation: Using actions or gestures to create fear.
• Emotional Abuse: Name-calling or humiliation to degrade someone.
• Isolation: Restricting interactions to maintain control.
• Minimizing/Denying/Blaming: Downplaying abuse to make the victim doubt themselves.
• Dominance: Controlling decisions and treating the other as inferior.
• Economic Abuse: Restricting access to money or resources.
• Coercion/Threats: Using threats to control behavior.

Bullies have always existed, so why is it important to address cyberbullying? In a nutshell, it can be extremely detrimental to the victim's physical and mental health and, in some cases, possibly deadly. 

Since cyberbullying allows the anonymity of bullying from a distance, it can also be easily hidden from parents, friends and school administrators and adds an almost invisible dimension to the traditional face-to-face bullying that can be hard to detect and address.

• Create Safe Spaces: Establish confidential environments where victims can share experiences without fear, like support groups or safe zones.
• Educate Peers: Train peers to recognize trauma, listen empathetically, and respect boundaries.
• Promote Bystander Intervention: Encourage peers to act when witnessing dangerous situations, either by stepping in or seeking help.
• Support Peer-Led Initiatives: Fund peer-led groups that focus on sexual assault awareness and survivor support.
• Foster Belief: Promote the importance of believing survivors when they come forward.
• Provide Resources: Ensure peers know how to connect victims with counseling, hotlines, legal, and medical help.
• Encourage Storytelling: Support survivors in sharing their stories, through art, writing, or anonymously, to help others feel less isolated.
• Organize Mentorship Programs: Pair survivors with mentors for peer-to-peer support and healing.
• Use Social Media: Raise awareness and share support through social media campaigns.
• Normalize Help-Seeking: Encourage a culture where seeking professional help is seen as a sign of strength.

Myth: Sexual assault only happens to “certain” women.
Fact: Anyone, regardless of gender, age, or appearance, can be sexually assaulted. Perpetrators target vulnerability, not appearance.

Myth: A victim “asked for it” by being seductive or intoxicated.
Fact: No one asks to be assaulted. Perpetrators are responsible for their actions, regardless of the victim's behavior.

Myth: If a victim doesn't fight back, it wasn't rape.
Fact: Submission is a survival tactic, not consent. Fear, threats, or shock can prevent a victim from resisting.

Myth: Most assaults are by strangers, so it’s not rape if they know each other.
Fact: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows—often a friend or acquaintance.