She explained everything again, again and again
There should be a proper system [...]. They should have proper staff - a person I directly talk to. [With respect to] the thing that happened with somebody [who was sexually assaulted] last year, I want to add that what she had to handle was like - and what she did at that time - she would go to one person, and then she would go to another one and would explain everything. Like, "this happened to me." They said, "Okay, this happened; and now we will send you to another person, go to them." So, she went and explained everything again, again and again, to different people. They just sent her to go and explain her thing, and meanwhile, what is the result? The person loses motivation. They're like, "Okay, nobody is going to listen. People are just going to ask, 'Okay, what happened? How did it happen? When did it happen? Okay, what did you do? Are you wearing something different at that time? Why did this happen?'" [...] They should add staff, or they should have some system so that everything is going to go in a proper way, so the person who has already been harassed [pause] they don’t want to explain anything again to people.
Recommendations
-
Promote SANE nurses as supporters for victims/survivors. Ideally, this would happen in the context of a formal partnership with SANE nurses, which includes 24/7 availability of SANE nurse services on campus.
-
Use approaches that are trauma informed and survivor-centred.
-
Provide long-term support to victims/survivors through university services and/or through referals to external community-based agencies.
-
Ensure all sexual violence prevention and response education and training opportunities actively deconstruct victim-blaming, rape myths and gender norms. Ensure these sessions take an intersectional approach to understanding sexual violence and supporting victim/survivors.
-
Highlight which university staff victims/survivors can report sexual violence to so they need only report once.