Women seek acknowledgment during sexual harassment awareness month
One out of every six women has experienced or have come close to experiencing a form of sexual assault. According to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) women between the ages of 18 and 34 are 54% more likely to have had an uncomfortable sexual encounter. This website only counts women in the U.S., but this means that there are other women around the world that are not accounted for.
Women continue to struggle with constant fear that they won’t always make it home safely. A prime example of this would be a 19-year-old University of Illinois at Chicago student Ruth George who ignored a man’s cat calls, and he later raped and killed her in her vehicle. She lost her life because she was trying to avoid an uncomfortable situation. This is only one story of many that haven’t been told or exposed yet. Women lose their lives or become emotionally scarred because of unexpected sexual assault.
Although the month of April is recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, for women who have experienced sexual assault before, it doesn’t mean that it will ever stop. There have been situations where women get killed or raped because they’re not interested in someone. Women are starting to feel like they don’t have a choice anymore. Regardless, if they ignore someone or consent to something just because they feel like they have to, they still get taken advantage of at the end of the day. March is women’s history month, and April is about the sexual assault they’ve experienced. The two months go hand in hand, but the assault continues no matter what month it is.