Sexual Assault Prevention Strategies

Sexual assault (SA) is a serious problem that can have lasting, harmful effects on victims and their family, friends, and communities. In order to prevent SA, we must understand and address risk and protective factors at the individual, relational, community, and societal levels.
Risk and Protective Factors

Risk factors are linked to a greater likelihood of sexual assault (SA) perpetration. They are contributing factors and might not be direct causes. Not everyone who is identified as at risk becomes a perpetrator of violence. A combination of individual, relational, community, and societal factors contribute to the risk of becoming a perpetrator of SA. Understanding these factors can help identify various opportunities for prevention.
Risk Factors for Perpetration

Individual Risk Factors

Alcohol and drug use
Delinquency
Lack of concern for others
Aggressive behaviors and acceptance of violent behaviors
Early sexual initiation
Coercive sexual fantasies
Preference for impersonal sex and sexual-risk taking
Exposure to sexually explicit media
Hostility towards women
Adherence to traditional gender role norms
Hyper-masculinity
Suicidal behavior
Prior sexual victimization or perpetration

Relationship Factors

Family history of conflict and violence
Childhood history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
Emotionally unsupportive family environment
Poor parent-child relationships, particularly with fathers
Association with sexually aggressive, hypermasculine, and delinquent peers
Involvement in a violent or abusive intimate relationship

Community Factors

Poverty
Lack of employment opportunities
Lack of institutional support from police and judicial system
General tolerance of sexual violence within the community
Weak community sanctions against sexual violence perpetrators

Societal Factors

Societal norms that support sexual violence
Societal norms that support male superiority and sexual entitlement
Societal norms that maintain women’s inferiority and sexual submissiveness
Weak laws and policies related to sexual violence and gender equity
High levels of crime and other forms of violence

Protective Factors for Perpetration

Protective factors may lessen the likelihood of sexual violence victimization or perpetration. These factors can exist at individual, relational, community, and societal levels.

Families where caregivers work through conflicts peacefully
Emotional health and connectedness
Academic achievement
Empathy and concern for how one’s actions affect others

Stop Sexual Assault


Strategy		Approach
S	Promote Social Norms that Protect Against Violence	Bystander Approaches Mobilizing men and boys as allies
T	Teach Skills to Prevent Sexual Violence	Social-emotional learning Teaching healthy, safe dating and intimate relationship skills to adolescents Promoting healthy sexuality Empowerment-based training
O	Provide Opportunities to Empower and Support Girls and Women	Strengthening economic supports for women and families Strengthening leadership and opportunities for girls
P	Create Protective Environments	Improving safety and monitoring in schools Establishing and consistently applying workplace policies Addressing community-level risks through environmental approaches
SV	Support Victims/Survivors to Lessen Harms	Victim-centered services Treatment for victims of SA Treatment for at-risk children and families to prevent problem behavior including sex offending

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical violence, rape, stalking and emotional or psychological abuse. In the United States, domestic violence is commonly associated with cases of sexual assault, stalking, homicide, mental illness and suicide. The pervasiveness and complexity of domestic violence mean that anyone — regardless of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion or social standing — can be affected by this kind of abuse at any point in their life.

Through this event, future activities and organization we are establishing we hope to aid many victims and their families.

Please review the resources below to aid your suffering or the suffering of loved ones.

Abusive Relationship Behaviors & Signs
While each individual will respond differently to an abusive relationship, these behaviors and signs may enable you or a loved one to escape the potential perils.

Victim – Domestic Violence Behaviors & Signs

Constantly fearing the person when they’re around, or feeling fearful while awaiting their arrival
Being repeatedly humiliated, intimidated, criticized, belittled or yelled at
Being controlled or dominated
Having pain intentionally inflicted by hand or object (punching, slapping, pushing, squeezing, cutting, stabbing, bludgeoning, etc.)
Being objectified (physically, sexually, etc.)
Blaming yourself for the person’s abusive behavior toward you
Being physically or verbally forced into doing things you don’t want to do
Being threatened
Being isolated and forbidden from seeing your friends and family
Having your personal belongings confiscated, destroyed or monitored
Having all of your physical movements monitored

Loved One – Domestic Violence Behaviors & Signs

Act nervous and uneasy around the topic of their partner
Receive frequent, harassing calls or texts from their partner while with you
Make constant attempts to please their partner
Describe their partner as possessive or jealous
Tell you frequent stories of accidental injuries to explain cuts, bruises and scratches
Miss school, work or other social obligations, with frequent excuses or no explanation at all
Wear long sleeves in warm places or sunglasses indoors or when it’s not sunny out
Have low self-esteem
Show signs of depression or anxiety
Blame themselves for a physical altercation with their partner, if they admit that it happened at all
Make excuses for their partner and justify their abusive behavior
Become irritable or angry when you try to reason with them about their partner

Organization Resources

800-675-6900

About NOVA

Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA) supports, counsels and empowers victims of sexual assault and other serious crimes in Bucks County and works to prevent and eliminate violence in society through advocacy, training, community education and prevention programs.

Founded in 1974, NOVA is a non-profit 501 (c) (3), community-based organization. Services are made possible through the financial support of federal, state, and local government grants and contracts, United Way of Bucks County, corporations, foundations and private donations. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

We believe that all individuals should be empowered to make decisions about their lives, to be secure from violation of their bodies and personal space, and to live in a society free from violence. We further believe that society has a responsibility to educate and support individuals with regard to these rights.

Therefore, NOVA will serve the Bucks County community by providing direct support to victims of sexual assault and other personal violations and advancing the rights of victims through advocacy and prevention education programs. In these efforts, NOVA will strive to develop programs and services which empower individuals and promote respect for the privacy, uniqueness and dignity of all people.

NOVA envisions a society free of violence, one that empowers individuals and promotes respect for the privacy, diversity and dignity of all people.

800-220-8116
About A Woman’s Place
A Woman’s Place envisions a society where all individuals are safe in their relationships and can flourish.

A Woman’s Place is a community-based social change organization committed to the empowerment of women and to ending intimate and domestic violence for all.

888-772-7227
About PCAR

The mission of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is to work to eliminate all forms of sexual violence and to advocate for the rights and needs of victims of sexual assault.

Founded in 1975, PCAR works to end sexual violence and advocates for the rights and needs of all sexual assault victims. PCAR partners with a network of rape crisis programs to bring help, hope, and healing around issues of sexual violence to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

PCAR:

Ensures that communities have access to quality victim services and prevention education by providing funding, training, materials and assistance to a network of rape crisis centers that serve all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
Provides resources and training on sexual assault-related issues to professionals across the Commonwealth.
Promotes public policies that provide protections and services to victims of sexual violence, hold offenders accountable, and enhance community safety.
Launched the Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project in 2018 to provide holistic legal services to survivors of sexual violence.
Works with media to increase public awareness, access to accurate information, and ethical reporting practices.
Operates the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), which identifies, develops and disseminates resources regarding all aspects of sexual violence prevention and intervention. The NSVRC also is a partner in a collaborative effort with the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV), and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)–PreventConnect to operate RALIANCE. RALIANCE was founded in 2015 through a multimillion dollar seed investment by the National Football League with a mission of ending sexual violence in one generation. RALIANCE promotes prevention by awarding grants, advancing research, policymaking, and more.
Operated AEquitas: The Prosecutor’s Resource on Violence Against Women from 2009 until the organization became an independent 501(c)(3) on October 1, 2015. PCAR founded AEquitas and was responsible for its financial management while AEquitas project staff implemented training, case consultation, technical assistance and the development of practical resources for prosecutors and justice professionals around the world. PCAR and AEquitas will continue to work closely together as collaborative partners to help identify emerging issues and strategies that could affect investigations and prosecutions of sexual violence and related cases.

Guide for Friends and Family of Survivors

800-656-4673

RAINN’S MISSION

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was created by Congress in 2000 as part of the Children’s Health Act to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for children and families who experience or witness traumatic events. This unique network of frontline providers, family members, researchers, and national partners is committed to changing the course of children’s lives by improving their care and moving scientific gains quickly into practice across the U.S. The NCTSN is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and coordinated by the UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS). The NCTSN has grown from 17 funded centers in 2001 to 116 currently funded centers and 170 Affiliate (formerly funded) centers and individuals, working in hospitals, universities, and community-based programs in 43 states and the District of Columbia. To accomplish the NCTSN mission, grantees and Affiliates work to:

Provide clinical services
Develop and disseminate new interventions and resource materials
Offer education and training programs
Collaborate with established systems of care
Engage in data collection and evaluation
Inform public policy and awareness efforts

The national impact of the NCTSN is well documented. In recent years, estimates from the NCTSN Collaborative Change Project (CoCap) have indicated that each quarter about 30,000 individuals – children, adolescents and their families – directly benefited from services through this Network. Since its inception, the NCTSN has trained more than two million professionals in trauma-informed interventions. Hundreds of thousands more are benefiting from the other community services, website resources, webinars, educational products, community programs, and more. Over 10,000 local and state partnerships have been established by NCTSN members in their work to integrate
trauma-informed services into all child-serving systems, including child protective services, health and mental health programs, child welfare, education, residential care, juvenile justice, courts, and programs serving military and veteran families.

Our Mission

The mission of the National Center for Victims of Crime is to forge a national commitment to help victims of crime rebuild their lives. We are dedicated to serving individuals, families, and communities harmed by crime.

The National Center for Victims of Crime is a nonprofit organization that advocates for victims’ rights, trains professionals who work with victims, and serves as a trusted source of information on victims’ issues. After more than 35 years, we remain the most comprehensive national resource committed to advancing victims’ rights and helping victims of crime rebuild their lives.

The National Center is, at its core, an advocacy organization committed to — and working on behalf of — crime victims and their families. Rather than focus the entire organization’s work on one type of crime or victim, the National Center addresses all types of crime.