“Every 2 minutes someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S.”

April marks Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time for all of us to get more educated and involved in how to prevent any form of sexual assault or abuse in our community. In a culture where sexuality is rarely discussed and very often suppressed, it comes as no surprise that many women are not even AWARE that they are in sexually abusive relationships until it becomes too late. It is crucial for each of us to learn how to identify sexual abuse for ourselves and our friends and family.

What suggestions do you have for introducing the subject of sexual abuse in the South Asian community and encouraging people to ask questions and gain more insight into the issue?

What IS Sexual Abuse?**

“Sexual assault takes many forms – it is any unwanted sexual contact, including rape, attempted rape, sexual harassment, and stalking and child sexual abuse”. According to the National Violence against Women survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, 1 in 6 women in the U.S. has been the victim of rape or attempted rape.  

Below are some explanations of the most common forms of sexual abuse:

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“Love doesn’t hurt…and if a man hits you once, he WILL hit you again” ~ Oprah Winfrey

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of gossip and media frenzy around whether or not Rihanna and Chris Brown are getting back together. Although it is a bit disheartening that such a tragic event has become sensationalized by the media, many journalists, celebrities, and even survivors have found the courage to speak out against abuse and how women can be empowered to leave such awful situations.

Here is a link to Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks discussing domestic violence and how it’s so important for us to open up the discussion in our homes and our community:

http://www.oprah.com/media/20090312-tows-tyra-banks

Here is another video of Oprah discussing abuse.

I think the greatest lesson we can all learn from all this media coverage is that we must teach ourselves, our kids, our friends and family about abuse and keep the discussion ongoing. The only way we can prevent abuse is if we ourselves change the way we deal with it and speak about it.