Heroes: Sexual assault survivors to discuss recover

The Government Relations Council is hoping to put a face to sexual assault — a widespread issue, even on Utah State University’s campus — on Thursday night.

The event, “Heroes, not Victims,” will focus less on how people are victimized and more on overcoming adversity. Four students — three women and one man — will sit on a panel to discuss their experiences recovering from sexual assault.

Student advocate Ashley Waddoups found the speakers primarily through the Government Relations Council, which she chairs.

“It was really a miracle being able to find people who were willing to talk about it,” Waddoups said. “Some of them were assaulted while they were at college, some were assaulted before — obviously that’s not something you just get over overnight, so they have some really compelling stories to tell us of how they’re dealing with it.”

Anna Marchant, who will sit on the panel, said she likes the topic and is happy with how Waddoups has advertised.

“People say, ‘You’re not a victim, you’re a survivor.’ And I don’t see why you can’t be both,” Marchant, a junior majoring in political science, said. “To say I’m not a victim means it didn’t happen to me. I was victimized. But at the same time, being a victim isn’t my whole identity.”

Marchant said that while every situation is different, there are uniform effects that every victim of sexual assault experiences, including guilt, a lack of control and — to some degree — a loss of identity.

Tre Manual, a junior double-majoring in political science and economics, is on the committee for the event, but he also volunteered to participate in the panel. He frequently performs at PoBev, and he will start the evening with a slam poem.

“It’s a very deep poem. It touches on a lot,” Manual said. “All in all, I take the approach of a victim and also a bystander, and I kind of show the role that each one can play when it comes to accomplishing the goal of overcoming adversity… I have a lot of passion when I perform, so it’s going to be firm.”

Manual said he wants to show the perspective of someone who has overcome a sexual assault.

“There’s beauty and you develop strength once that actually happens,” he said. “I’m using that as a token of motivation for people to want to overcome it.”

Panelists included freshman and seniors. All the panel members were sexually assaulted at some point, but every story is different.

“For someone to say overcoming it is easy — they have no idea what they’re talking about. It took me 13 years to actually tell someone that it happened to me,” Manual said.

Manual said it’s very uncommon for victims to report the incident right away. The process of overcoming an assault isn’t something people can generalize, he said.

“People have different techniques — they force themselves to, or they take their time. They seek guidance, or they do it on their own. It’s completely different for everyone,” he said.

The part they can generalize, he said, is that recovery is possible for all victims. Marchant said recovery has to be deliberate.

“Ultimately, I think I had to make the decision to recover,” she said, “and I think when that decision’s made, it does get a little better over time.”

While sexual assault is an unhappy experience and unpleasant topic, Waddoups said the event should be inspiring and empowering.

“Life doesn’t have to be perfect for you to consider yourself recovered,” Marchant said. “In a way I think that’s kind of beautiful, because that’s what helps us grow and become triumphant in life. There’s no timeline for healing.”

The panel members will answer some preplanned questions after sharing their stories. “Heroes, not Victims” will be held in the Taggart Student Center auditorium on Thursday at 7 p.m.

— brennakelly818@gmail.com
@bckelly8