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Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2022

april.pngSexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is an annual month long campagin to raise awareness about sexual violence. SAAM has been lead by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) since 2001. This year’s theme for SAAM is “Building Safe Online Spaces Together.” 

About Sexual Assault Awareness Month

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Now more than ever, screens and technology connect us with romantic partners, friends and family, co-workers, and strangers alike. For too long, harassment, cyberbullying, sexual abuse, and exploitation have come to be expected as typical and unavoidable behaviors online. 

Last year, the national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign uplifted the message that “We Can Build Safe Online Spaces,” calling on audiences to practice digital consent, intervene when we see harmful content and behaviors, and promote online communities that value safety and respect. This April, the SAAM 2022 campaign continues to build on this vision with a call to action: “Building Safe Online Spaces Together.” 

We know that we can build and are building online communities centered on respect, inclusion, and safety — where harassment, assault, and abuse are taken seriously. Not only do we believe that together we can build a safer online world, but we also believe that these values, skills, and actions will create communities that thrive online and offline. 

Together we can make a difference to build inclusive, safe, and respectful online spaces. We invite you to join us this April in making respect the norm everywhere, taking action to promote the safety of others, and showing survivors they are believed and supported. 

Events

Check back soon for event details

Highlighting Faculty Achievements in the Awareness and Prevention of Sexual Violence

Heather McCauley, Sc. D

Heather McCauley is a Harvard-trained social epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development & Family Studies. Her research focuses on health impacts of and intervention strategies to reduce intimate partner violence, sexual assault and reproductive coercion, with emphasis on victimization among marginalized populations.

In the last year, McCauley has published 9 academic journal articles such as “Bystander Program Effectiveness to Reduce Violence and Violence Acceptance Within Sexual Minority Male and Female High School Students Using a Cluster RCT,” in Prevention Science. In addition, McCauley is the Co-PI on the National Institute of Health grant entitled “Measure Development to Advance the Scientific Study of Minority Stress in Transgender Individuals.” 

Rebecca Campbell, Ph.D

Rebecca Campbell is a Professor of Psychology and holds a Ph.D from MSU in community psychology with a concentration in statistics. Her research focuses on how contact with the legal and medical systems affects adult, adolescent, and pediatric victims' psychological and physical health.

In 2020, Campbell won the GenCen’s Inspiration Woman of the Year Award, published numerous journal articles and served as PI or Co-PI on multiple grants. She is currently the Co-PI on the Sexual Assault Kit Initaitive (SAKI) Tranining & Technical Assistance Project from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Adrienne Adams, Ph.D

Adrienne Adams is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. She is also the Director of Evaluation for a large, urban non-profit organization that offers a wider array of supportive programs for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Her work looks at local, state, and national domestic violence and sexual assault victim services programs.

In 2020, Adams published two academic journal articles including “The Revised Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA2): Development and Initial Psychometric Testing of an Updated Measure of Economic Abuse in Intimate Relationships,” in Psychology of Violence and “The Frequence, Nature, and Effects of Coerced Debt Among a National Sample of Women Seeking Help for Intimate Partner Violence,” in Violence Against Women.

Hyunkag Cho, Ph.D

Hyunkag Cho is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work. His research focuses on intimate partner violence, with a specific emphasis on criminal justice intervention and immigrants.

Cho has published six academic journal articles, including “Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Among College Students with Disabilities: Prevalence, help-seeking, and the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence victimization,” in Children and Youth Services Review, as well as a book chapter in Victims of Violence: Support Challenges and Outcomes published by Nova.

Katie Ann Gregory, Ph.D

Katie Ann Gregory is an Assistant Professor of Ecological/Community Psychology and is the Associate Director of the Research Consortium on Gender-Based Violence at MSU. Her work focuses on improving the services of survivors of sexual violence and their families. 

In the past year, Gregory has published 5 academic articles including “Understanding How Domestic Violence Shelter Rules May Influence Survivor Empowerment,” in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and “Domestic Violence Advocates’ HIV Prevention Practices with Women Survivors: Frequency and Barriers,” in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. She also serves as Co-PI on two grants from the US Department of Justice.

Karen Holt, Ph.D

Karen Holt is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice. Her research looks at sexual deviance and offending, deviance and identity, and stigma.

In 2020, Holt published 4 academic articles including “Decoding the Binary: Reconsidering the Hacker Subculture through a Gendered Lens,” in Deviant Behavior and “Cyber Sextortion: An Exploratory Analysis of Different Perpetrators Engaging in Similar Crime,” in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Jennifer E. Johnson, Ph.D

Jennifer Johnson is a C.S. Mott Endowed Professor Of Public Health, Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. Her work focuses on the effectiveness of mental health and substance use interventions for vulnerable populations.

Johnson is currently PI on two National Institute of Health grants and the Co-PI on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. In addition, she has published 7 articles in 2020 including “Trauma, Power, and Intimate Relationships Among Women in Prison,” in Violence Against Women.

Megan Maas, Ph.D

Megan Maas is an Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Studies. Her research focuses on sexual development and technology use. More specifically, she is in interested in the internat as a context for gendered sexual socialization through internet pornography use, social media, and sexting.

Maas has published numerous articles in 2020 including “Love Hurts?”: Identifying Abuse in the Virgin-Beast Trope of Popular Romantic Fiction,” which was co-authored with Amy Eliza in the Journal of Family Violence.

Additional Resources

Local Resources

MSU Center for Survivors

Office on campus that provides therapy and advoacy to MSU students who are surirvors of sexual violence. Located on the second floor of the Student Services Building.
24/7 Crisis Hotline: (517) 372-6666
10 am - 10 pm EST Crisis Chatline

MSU Sexual Assault Healthcare Program

Healthcare program for survivors of sexual violence within 5 days of assualt. Located on the second floor of the Student Services Building.

Firecracker Foundation

The Firecracker Foundation has a trusted history of providing healing services to children living in Ingham, Clinton, and Eaton counties of mid-Michigan and between the ages of 3-17 who are survivors of sexual violence. The foundation community includes a dedicated staff, licensed therapists, yoga instructors, well-trained advocates, and volunteers.

End Violent Encounters (EVE)

End Violent Encounters has grown to provide supportive services such as advocacy, medical advocacy, counseling, crisis intervention, children's programs and community education to survivors of many forms of violence including domestic, sexual, stalking, and elder abuse.

MSU Safe Place

MSU Safe Place is a program that addresses relationship violence and stalking. We are located on the campus of Michigan State University and serve students, faculty, staff, their spouses/partners and non-affiliated members in the Greater Lansing Area.

National Resources

1 in 6

1 in 6 is a national nonprofit organization focused on supporting men who are survivors of sexual violence. They also provide support to family members, friends, partners, and service providers by providing information and support resources on the web and in the community.

Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN)

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NRSVC)

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is the leading nonprofit in providing information and tools to prevent and respond to sexual violence. NSVRC translates research and trends into best practices that help individuals, communities and service providers achieve real and lasting change. NSVRC also works with the media to promote informed reporting. Every April, NSVRC leads Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a campaign to educate and engage the public in addressing this widespread issue. NSVRC is also one of the three founding organizations of RALIANCE, a national, collaborative initiative dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation.

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