Touchstones for sexual assault discussion

Child and Family Center to host events at COC in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month

This April, the Domestic Violence Program of the Child and Family Center in the Santa Clarita Valley will hold events in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month at College of the Canyons.

The program, formerly known as the Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita Valley, is participating in an annual nationwide campaign to raise public awareness about sexual violence.

On April 10, the program will host a #MeToo discussion at the Student Center at the College of the Canyons’ Valencia campus at 12:30 p.m. in room 129. Students will have an opportunity to make “touchstones,” a clear marble with a flat surface to glue mantras to hold onto when post-traumatic, stress-triggered flashbacks occur.

Alexandra Garcia, a youth prevention specialist and advocate through the program, organized the event as a way to create a space for people to discuss the movement and their experiences.

“People are starting to feel more empowered to share their

stories because our political climate has shifted so much,” she said. “But a lot of times, people don’t realize if something traumatic has happened to you, it’s not so easy to say, ‘Hey, this happened to me.’ It’s often more empowering for people to express themselves through art.”

The program is also looking for donations to its Denim Day events later in the month. Garcia and other program participants will be on Valencia’s campus on April 24 and Canyon Country’s campus on April 25 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with denim shorts, jeans, skirts and jackets for all members of the community to decorate.

The denim clothing will be hung around the campuses afterward as a message of empowerment to survivors of sexual assault and rape.

April 25 is Los Angeles’ National Denim Day, in honor of an Italian movement in the 1990s, when women wore jeans to protest the verdict of a rape case. The judge in the case said a woman who alleged she was raped by her 45-year-old driving instructor had a false testimony because her jeans were too tight to be removed without her consent.