Perspectives on responses to sexual assault

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…

There are so many biases that come with different ethnicities, so it is important to listen with an open mind and to remove any biases before someone discloses. As we know, if you don’t feel…

Participant 1: For instance, “filing a report directly to the police” [as suggested to survivors in a 2019 SV/SA policy] – it’s little things like that, like, if we are speaking from the perspective of…

Participant 1: I also think they should have more people of colour available to help someone. A woman or guy of colour might not feel comfortable going to someone that wouldn’t understand them […]. So,…

I think this highlights the issue of feeling alone in these kinds of circumstances. I would say that as young Black leaders in the community, it is kind of on us to make sure that…

I think trust is a huge thing. I feel that in these situations, the onus is not on the victim, the onus is on the supporter to show the victim, like, “You can trust me.…

I hope everyone in this conversation is aware of the movie Birth of a Nation. If you’re not aware of it, you have to look that up. Essentially, it was a movie from the 1920s…

I feel like it’s also important to come into situations like this and other situations too, from a point of harm reduction, versus a purely justice standpoint. I say this to say that in certain…

[Service providers who receive disclosures should] have an open mind and be comforting, because it’s very different when you’re trying to explain something or say something to somebody that already has a bias about you.

Yeah, definitely like, where do I look for this information. but also, like, who am I talking to? Because personally, I’ve been sexually harassed by a male and then going to talk to a male,…