For crisis intervention or mental distress: Provincial Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line:
1-888-429-8167

For Confidential support to post-secondary students in Nova Scotia:
Good2Talk: 1-833-292-3698
or text GOOD2TALKNS to 686868

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program for the Halifax area:
902-425-0122

Get toll-free numbers for other Nova Scotia regions

 

EMERGENCY CONTACT
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

Get Help Now

African Male

Sometimes we are viewed as being violent

Sometimes, like you said, we are viewed as violent. and we have been for a long time. So, in my perception, I might have felt like I was acting normal. But in her perception, because of these biases and other reasons, she might have perceived things differently. And at the end of the day, if she perceived things that way, that is her view, that is her truth. So just really understanding the fine lines of what sexual assault really is, and what sexual assault is really not- the earlier we learn that, I think we could avoid a lot of the situations that we find ourselves in.

Recommendations

  • Create and promote avenues for comprehensive consent education.

  • Be aware of damaging assumptions about Black and Middle Eastern male sexuality; consider problematizing this form of bias in education and awareness campaigns. In working with students from these demographics in relation to a disclosure or report, demonstrate awareness that such biases exist, and demonstrate intention not to be swayed by such assumptions.