Perspectives on responses to sexual assault

Facilitator: Participant 1, how do you think your parents would respond to the policy? Participant 1: They wouldn’t listen. They would tell me, “Call the police! Call the embassy!” They will tell me, “Call all…

I think one piece of advice I will have is for them to treat every experience as individual. I wouldn’t want to say it all depends on culture- we are so diverse in a way…

Facilitator: What are some things we would ask ourselves when making suggestions [to a friend who has been sexually assaulted]? What would we need to think about before giving advice? Participant 1: Did you give…

Participant 1: Yeah, don’t wash afterwards. Participant 2: Yeah, ’cause the DNA is still on you. Participant 3: Like, if something happened to your friend, you should ask if they showered. […] Participant 1: If…

[When supporting a survivor], I would say try to be less formal – be informal! Like, act as if you care and are not just asking me because you have to […]. And don’t come…

Facilitator: Do you think that you would visit a counsellor’s office to ask for help if something like this happened? Participant 1: Here? Facilitator: Yeah. Participant 1: I’ve never been there, but honestly, no. Participant…

Participant 1: So, question: Who are the people who work in there? Do they work for the school? Facilitator: Yeah. Participant1: What if they go talking to their friend and say, “oh, I have this…

I feel as though there should be a little more, I guess, options. Like, when you go to some medical center, you should have the option of either going to a male or female doctor,…

So, what I got from the policy is that with the other option, disclosing, that’s the only way you can be anonymous. Like, if you report it, it can’t be anonymous as well. You have…

How long after the incident are you allowed to report? Like, is there a timeframe that you have to report by? Or, let’s say that it happened months ago, can I still report it, or…