Sexual assault awareness month aims to educate
April is sexual assault awareness month and Chico State is gearing up to offer workshops and events to commemorate.
On April 4 there will be a protest at Chico State against what happened on campus with former professor David Stachura and gender based violence occurrences. This event starts at 12:30 p.m. in front of Kendall Hall.
April 26 is Denim Day. For this event, participants wear jeans as a means of bringing awareness to sexual assault. This event began in 1999 after a campaign began following a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court. A rape conviction was overturned because the judges believed that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans.
“There is also an exhibit going up for Denim Day which will be hosted in the anthropological museum.
The exhibit will run from April 24-28. On April 25 we are collaborating with the Hub for their ‘crafting cats’ night, where participants will make denim patches for a denim display,” said Leistner, a sexual and relationship health scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Public Health and Health Services Administration at Chico State. “We will be hosting the Sexual Assault Response Team nurses from Enloe Medical Center for a training and I will also be hosting a training regarding Safe Place mission and services.”
On April 20 there will be a gender and sexuality coalition from 5:30-8:30 p.m. This includes a vigil and march in downtown Chico to raise awareness about sexual assault.
“Reporting is really low,” Leistner said. “Students are embarrassed or think people won’t listen and so many don’t report the incident.”
Take Back the Night is on April 20 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center on West Second Street at Chico State. This event raises awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. The event is free, but participants should register for it at https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/ take-back-the-night-tickets-594855437627.
Chico State associate professor in the Department of Child Development Shrija R. Dirghangi is hosting a women’s circle this spring with three student facilitators. It is not part of sexual assault awareness month but is indirectly related.
“We are hosting a ten week long Safe and Healthy Relationships Women’s Circle for students through spring 2023. This peer support program invites women to connect and share information regarding healthy relationships every week for 1.5 hours,” Dirghangi said. “We are a group of 15-20 students and faculty and student facilitators. Weekly topics include healthy communication, conflict regulation, recognizing signs of unhealthy relationships, and ending unhealthy relationships among many other topics. We also connect students with resources on campus.”
Dirghangi is very proud of the program.
“The women’s circle has been a peer support program that I started at (Chico State) in spring 2018 and have continued every semester since then,” Dirghangi said. “We started with a wellness circle where we discussed women’s wellness topics every week.”.
Students could earn a 1-unit credit by participating, although students can join without signing up for credit.
“Many students also wish to facilitate circles after being part of it themselves as participants so it offers a leadership opportunity as well,” said Dirghangi.
Dirghangi is currently starting the new Safe and Healthy Relationships themed women’s circle, which is similar to the wellness circle. This circle focuses on topics related to healthy relationships. The Wellness themed Women’s Circles are also ongoing this semester.