On September 27, 2021, bodies filled U.C Hill at Western University in an organized walkout to protest both the school’s handling of sexual assault allegations on campus and to stand in solidarity with survivors of sexual violence. Less than a week later, Fanshawe College hosted their own ‘Take Back Our Campus Walk’ after similar threats were posted in an online chat.
But what is sexual violence?
“We use the term sexual violence because it’s an umbrella term,” says Fanshawe’s Sexual Violence Prevention Advisor Leah Marshall. “It encompasses many different acts. It’s any act of aggression or violence towards someone that sexual in nature, or that targets someone’s sexuality, or gender identity.”
Sexual violence can take on many different forms as it’s not always physical in nature.
“It can be degrading or sexist comments made online. Homophobia and transphobia are also examples of sexual violence so we need to expand our definition of what that looks like.”
“It doesn’t matter if the violence is physical or not, it can still have an impact on people’s lives.”
Sexual violence can cause significant trauma in survivors as it holds a neurobiological impact — it affects the brain and nervous system leaving symptoms such as insomnia or hypersomnia, loss of appetite, long-lasting nightmares, and much more.
“Our ability to remember things or keep things kind of linear in terms of what’s happened or what’s going on in our life can be impacted as well. The way that trauma impacts memory can be pretty significant”
Marshall explains that’s why sometimes survivors say they have difficulty putting all the “pieces of the puzzle together.” But no matter what form the violence takes, it’s never the survivors fault.
“What happens is that sometimes our bodies and how safe we feel in the world can change because of what someone else has done to us. But the survivor should never be at fault for what someone else has done.”
Survivors reactions to sexual violence are still not well understood in society, according to Marshall, as “rape myths” are still common. These topics of victimization and “victim shaming” have impacted how survivors disclose their experience.
“What makes it difficult is the world we live in,” says Marshall. “We live in a world that’s really unkind to survivors. We live in a world that blame survivors, instead of holding perpetrators accountable. We live in a world where sometimes when we tell someone about the violence we’ve experienced, they question us, try to be an investigator and find out all the details or what we could have done differently, or how this may have been our fault. When really, no one deserves to be subjected to any type of violence.”
2020 Data from Ontario.ca on who is affected by sexual violence (Amy Simon/XFM NEWS)
Western University’s Director of the Centre for Research & Education on Violence against Women & Children Katreena Scott explains the same thing.
“Some people say “If nobody’s come forward, well, maybe people are just making too big a deal out of this,” and I want to counter that myth. I want to remind people that disclosing to anybody is a step and it’s an important step.”
Scott says as a community, and as a culture, the way support is shown for survivors needs to change. Specifically how one responds to survivors. Understanding and listening are two very important things when it comes to breaking down barriers built from sexual violence.
“If we create a community where when survivors tell us they’ve experienced sexual violence we respond by holding perpetrators accountable and by listening and asking survivors what they need, we create safer spaces to talk about our experiences.”
To confidentially review your options, contact Leah Marshall at lkmarshall@fanshawec.ca.
For more community based opportunities, contact The Regional Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Program at 519-646-6100 ext. 64224, or ext. 0 for a crisis.
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