This commentary is by Christine DiBlasio. She is co-founder of The Safety Team, a Vermont non-profit working to prevent violence, heal trauma, foster resilience and build safer communities. A 5th-degree black belt in Kempo-JuJitsu, Christine is also a licensed psychologist and the director of a larg e private outpatient mental health practice.April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but sexual violence is a pervasive problem all year long, impacting survivors and those who care about them. The statistics are alarming and illustrate that, without dedicated and sustained efforts, there is no end in sight. As a community, it is imperative that we reexamine the lens with which we view, prevent, and treat sexual assault and all gender-based violence. These are not simply “women’s issues” but rather broad societal ones. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, an American is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds and 90% of these victims are women. According to Vermont’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 34% of female high school students in Vermont have experienced unwanted sexual contact, a rate four times higher than the rate reported by high school males.Although anyone can be a victim of sexual assault, according to RAINN, 9 out of 10 adult rape survivors are female. Women between the ages of 18 to 24 are at the greatest risk for sexual assault – three to four times the rate of the general population of women. In fact, female college students are twice as likely to be raped than robbed.Every year, women’s organizations nationwide hold vigils, marches, training sessions and events, speaking out against sexual assault, and deliberate on prevention and better service provisions for survivors. The conversation around sexual violence has moved from the margin to the center, and at times is better represented in mainstream media. While I applaud and participate in these worthwhile efforts, there is much more work to be done.Over the last several decades, many steps have been taken to address this intractable issue. Although recent revisions threaten to weaken their impact, Title IX and the 1994 Violence Against Women Act created powerful responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. Laws like these have made possible the provision of victim services, training and advocacy nationwide. Closer to home, there are programs supporting survivors and empowering women. The Vermont Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Abuse coordinates and oversees the state’s systematic response to sexual assault and child sexual abuse. The Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services supports accessible and trauma-informed services for survivors.The Safety Team has facilitated hundreds of workshops and empowered thousands of people at risk through prevention, resilience building, and healing strategies. In doing so, we hope to dismantle harmful myths, educate individuals and communities on prevention strategies and help create a culture where every voice is heard, believed, and respected; in doing so, we hope to help build safer communities. What, then, are we missing?Sexual assault, and in fact all gender-based violence, is often framed as a “women’s issue,” since most victims are female. Rape victims are questioned about their moral character, their dress, their relationships, their habits, their actions and whether they had been drinking, as if any of that caused the attack. To be clear, 100% of the responsibility for an attack falls on the attacker, no matter what. Victims don’t cause attacks. Attackers do.How would it look if we took a different approach? If instead of treating gender violence simply as a women’s issue, we reframed it as a broader societal issue? What if together we worked to address the root causes of such violence? Take the dedicated work of psychologist Dr. Jackson Katz, for example; he has been a leader in the global movement of men working together to promote gender equity and to prevent gender violence. We need this work alongside our own.The solutions are not simple. It will take a multitude of collaborative and complementary approaches — and all of us — to make our community safe for all.I’m dedicated to doing my part. And it is through my professional work, paired with the tireless efforts of The Safety Team, that I continue to have hope for the future. Together, we CAN make a difference.In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, The Safety Team will host “fostering safety in an unsafe world,” a complimentary informational presentation, April 14 at 6 p.m. at the Mainstreet Landing Performing Arts Center’s Film House in Burlington. This presentation will include a video, easy-to-learn strategies and techniques as well as a live demonstration from The Safety Team and a Q&A session.  Registration is encouraged but not required.Read the story on VTDigger here: Christine DiBlasio: We need to reframe gender violence as a broader societal issue. ...read more read less