Punches thrown in TSC
The coordinators of Red Zone Week had a message for Utah State University students – sexual assault is a real issue and it happens at USU.
“In the Zone,” an event of Red Zone Week, took place in the Taggart Student Center from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and featured presentations on intimacy and self-defense.
Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) sponsored the activity.
“We’d like to believe that sexual assault isn’t a real part of our society, but it is,” said SAAVI coordinator Rachel Hickman.
One in three women can expect to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, however, only one in 10 sexual assaults are reported, said Sgt. Joe Huish, ofUSU Police.
According to www.areaconnect.com, which uses FBI statistics, Logan’s crime level for rape is higher than the national average.
Hickman warned students to be careful, saying 57 percent of rapes occur on a date and 85 percent of assault survivors know their attackers.
Despite empty chairs, Hickman said she was excited about the attendance.
“It’s probably the largest turnout ever for an event revolving around sexual assault,” she said. “It’s a taboo topic. It makes people uncomfortable.”
Red Zone Week activities are designed to educate students about personal and sexual safety and correspond with the time period from the beginning of school to Thanksgiving when college women are most at risk for experiencing sexual assault and date rape, Huish said.
SAAVI is a USU campus organization designed to provide support and information after a sexual assault. They offer several programs and services devoted to creating healthy relationships and violence-free environments, Hickman said.
“It would be really nice if I were out of a job. That would be wonderful,” Hickman said if there were no sexual assaults at USU.
“Apparently it [sexual assault] happens more than I thought it did. It’s more prevalent,” Connor Cottle, an undeclared junior who attended “In the Zone” with the Sigma Chi Fraternity, said.
Cottle said Sigma Chi decided to come as a group because they felt it was a “good way to show we don’t condone sexual assault.”
The fraternity set up a banner, signing their names to end and prevent sexual assault.
“We want to show our support for SAAVI and go against the traditional stereotype of fraternities,” Cottle said.
Other organizations with booth and information at “In the Zone” included the USU counseling Center, Logan City’s Community Abuse Prevention Services Gancy (CAPSA), the USU Women’s Center and Sources of Support (SOS).
A RAD (Rape and Aggression Defense) demonstration was offered at the event with USU Police Lt. Shane Sessions, in a padded ” aggressor suit,” simulating an attack against Hickman. She responded with moves taught in a RAD class.
RAD is a national program for females only, taught on USU campus by the police department, that Huish said focuses on “things you can do when you’re very, very stressed” because technical martial arts moves just don’t work in the stressful situation of an attack.
“This isn’t Charlie’ s Angels,” Huish said. ” We teach women to fight dirty.”
The demonstration was kept short because males are never allowed to view RAD course material.
“For you ladies, there’s a whole lot more, but because there’s guys here, we’re not going to show you,” Sessions said.
Dave Bush, a licensed psychologist from the USU Counseling Center, gave a presentation on “Real Intimacy.”
“If we understood intimacy, we wouldn’t have a Red Zone. We wouldn’t have a SAAVI coordinator,” Bush said.
Bush explained the different types of intimacy that create sexual assault, including what he called artificial intimacy.
“My favorite example of artificial intimacy is electronic intimacy,” Bush said. “Artificial intimacy is more about adrenaline than testosterone.”
Pornography sites and chat rooms allow total control, Bush said and are “inevitably tempting but never lasting.”
Bush also said distortions of the relationship between power, anger and sexuality often stem from sexual and emotional abuse and can be the cause of sexual assault.
Bush said there were three dimensions of love: passion, commitment and intimacy.
“In [true] intimacy we allow the person access to ourselves. Some people ironically use sex as a barrier to intimacy,” Bush said.
If a person skips from step one to step 10 then individuals do not have to get to know each other, Bush said.
Bush said the counseling center helps survivors of sexual assault from both ends. In his group he said he works through the process of healing and helps in relationships to establish positive intimacy.
Kris Andersen, a junior majoring in deaf education, said she was attracted to “In the Zone” by the ads she saw.
“It’s important to be educated,” she said. Andersen also said she always walks in lighted areas, never walks alone late at night, and has taken self-defense courses to protect herself should an attack happen.
“I like to talk to other people about it and make sure they are taking extra care themselves,” she said.
The group with the largest number of people in attendance, the Sigma Chi Fraternity, won a free pizza/and Aggie Ice Cream party and drawings were held throughout the night.
For more information, or for anyone needing assistance from SAAVI, the general information number is 797-1510 and the 24-hour hotline is 797-RAPE.
-natandrews@cc.usu.edu
Red Zone Awareness ribbons for students to wear, sit on a table in the Sunburst Lounge on Wednesday. (Photo by John Zsiray)