Sexual violence is pervasive, but it’s not inevitable. It’s preventable.

Thanks to the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council for their 2012 report A Snapshot in Time: The Root Causes of Crime in Waterloo Region. The report has been a conversation starter for important dialogue in our community. It shines a spotlight on the root causes of crime locally, and uses calls to our Centre’s 24 Hour Crisis and Support Line as a data point related to local sexualized crimes.

We know that securing data about the prevalence of sexual violence can be challenging; sexual assault is the most under-reported violent crime in Canada. In 2012 the Waterloo Regional Police Service received 558 sexual assault reports. While that number itself is alarming, we only begin to understand the magnitude of sexualized crimes in our community when we consider that less than 10% of sexual assaults are reported to police nationally. Therefore, pulling data from a number of sources enhances our understanding of this complex issue.

Over the years, our crisis call numbers have fluctuated. In the last decade, there’s been a trend towards a moderate decline in the number of calls received, but the overall demand for our services has increased significantly. The explanation for this is simple; historically we provided more basic information related to services and supports on our crisis line. With much of that information now readily available online, the calls we most often receive today are supportive in nature or focused on crisis intervention.

With new ways of communicating emerging, our Centre has begun to explore the option of incorporating live online support into our crisis and support services.

Who else is involved in addressing this issue?

Awareness of the prevalence and impact of sexual violence has begun to increase regionally, thanks to the commitment of community partners to work in a spirit of collaboration.

In 2007, our community began to mobilize on this issue. A number of service providers formed a network which evolved into the Sexual Assault Response Team of Waterloo Region (SART). SART is now a community coordinating committee made up of 18 partner agencies from the criminal justice sector, the health sector, and the social services sector.

In 2012, SART launched a community protocol for responding to sexual assault in our region. The first such protocol of its kind in Waterloo Region, its purpose is to give service providers a broader foundation for the work they do. The protocol establishes a common understanding and framework for the provision of services to survivors of sexual violence, enabling greater coordination and collaboration between community partners.

What should be done?

Sexual violence impacts people of every age and cultural background, and has devastating impacts on individuals, families and communities. Every survivor, regardless of gender, deserves access to specialized support services in our community to promote healing.

As a region and more broadly, we need to balance our investment in support services for survivors of sexual violence and with public education campaigns aimed at prevention. We have consistently seen that early-intervention and prevention are necessary and cost effective.

It is important to understand, however, that sexual violence is primarily perpetrated by men, against women, children, and trans people.

According to a 2006 Statistics Canada report, more than one in three women will experience some form of sexual assault in her adult lifetime (p24). Over 93% of reported adult sexual assault victims are female, while 97% of those accused are male (p37).

As such, we need to consider social constructions of gender when looking at the prevention of sexualized crimes. Sexual violence is about power and control, not sexual desire. It is about aggressively dominating someone else.

This knowledge was the impetus behind the creation our Male Allies Against Sexual Violence (MAASV) program in 2008. MAASV is a unique public education program focused on working with men in positions to influence male youth (such as coaches, faith leaders, teachers, and fathers). The program explores how popular conceptions of masculinity can limit men’s freedoms and harm others. MAASV encourages young men to treat women with fairness, equality and respect and to stand up and speak out on gendered violence. (More information on MAASV can be found here: www.MaleAllies.org)

Sexual violence is pervasive, but it’s not inevitable. Through public education, social change is possible. A better future exists for our daughters and our sons.

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