By Hannah Ziegler
The University of Maryland Sexual Assault Prevention Committee held virtual sexual assault awareness events from April 12-14 for students to confront sexual harassment and help survivors heal.
The three-night Raise Your Voice campaign culminated in a community panel on April 14 that addressed sexual violence in a virtual world. The Raise Your Voice campaign also featured a virtual restorative yoga session on April 12 and a charcuterie board design class on April 13.
Four panelists from university organizations and student groups discussed various topics, including how the pandemic has affected approaches to sexual violence prevention.
“People are more emboldened online than they are face to face, so they are much more likely to perpetrate harassment. The pandemic has highlighted how we minimize crimes that occur online,” said Courtney Fisher, a UMD criminology and criminal justice professor.
Brian Medina, a Bias Incident Support Services program manager, added that the pandemic’s social distancing stipulations could cause many people to think about how they consent to physical interactions in the future.
“There’s an assumption within our culture that a certain intimacy is okay. But our vulnerability should be our choice after the pandemic. Our willingness to embrace or change our boundaries may change because of our physical health concerns,” said Medina, who uses ze/hir/hirs pronouns.
Ze added that many people who feel uncomfortable with physical touch had a way to disconnect from that cultural pressure during the pandemic. However, after social distancing measures are lifted, people must be patient in understanding their new comfort level and their friends’ willingness to interact physically.
Rebecca Berkowitz, an attorney for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, emphasized the disparity between Maryland laws surrounding sexual assault and how social media can perpetuate violence.
“There’s a disparity of technological literacy between older generations and younger generations. The problem is that the people who make the laws, write the laws and enforce the laws tend not to understand how technology is used today,” Berkowitz said. “There are cases where you are dependent on the boomer generation to understand what motivated a 17-year-old to do what they did.”
Berkowitz added that the state of Maryland made progress by making revenge porn a crime in 2018. However, she emphasized how older generations still misapply cybercrime laws to punish the victim.
“There is the law, and then there is what our society is willing to tolerate. All the time, sex offenders are rolling the dice to see what society is willing to let them do,” Fisher added. “Our society tolerates offensive behavior far more than it tolerates what a victim has done.”
Senior public policy and women’s studies major Lizzie Mafrici, who is also the president of Preventing Sexual Assault (PSA), added that social media is a great tool to promote awareness, but this is difficult when a generational divide exists among policymakers and activists.
“With the younger generation on social media, I think that we’re in a much better spot for outreach. For example, PSA gained over 100 members in the pandemic. But the older generation doesn’t even understand what they’re punishing or why they’re trying to help people, let alone social media advocacy,” Mafrici said.
The panelists also tackled intersectional approaches to sexual violence prevention. Mafrici highlighted how harmful stereotypes surrounding sexual assault in college worsen stigma.
“Greek life, predominately white Greek life, has always been [PSA’s] biggest supporters both in money and attendance,” Mafrici said. “Because of that, a lot of PSA ends up being in Greek life. There is a myth that sexual assault always includes a white sorority girl victim, and that’s not true. I think that watching the way that you talk about sexual assault in everyday situations is one of the best ways to improve that dialogue.”
Mafrici added that she worked hard as PSA president to include marginalized groups in the organization’s advocacy efforts.
“There’s a lot of people on campus who want to be a part of the solution and don’t know how to be, or that feel like they’re being kicked out of the conversations. In PSA this year, I’ve tried to provide a space to ask questions and learn regardless of who you are,” Mafrici said.
Fisher added that the troubled history of sexual violence prevention in America cannot be overlooked, especially when considering how to promote intersectionality.
“The history of sexual violence prevention in this country is deeply racist, with a heightened emphasis on Black men being the enemy to white women,” Fisher said. “Anti-sexual violence work is important, and we don’t want to hurt those groups, but they have to start from scratch in so many ways because the tradition they are working off of is not a good one.”
For this reason, panelists agreed that sexual violence prevention on college campuses cannot fall victim to stereotypes.
This sexual assault prevention panel was set apart by its inclusion of a student perspective, something Mafrici did not take for granted.
“Not a lot of credit is given to students. It’s not often that we’re referred to as the experts in the field, which has always confused me because I experience rape culture the most out of anyone on the panel,” she said.
Panelists agreed that the week’s events were important in creating a campus that supports and uplifts survivor voices.
“Something big for PSA during the pandemic was the fact that survivors still existed and they still needed support. I use my voice to help others find theirs,” Mafrici said.
“Even during the pandemic, students are not alone. We are here together as a community to heal from sexual violence and trauma,” Medina said.
Featured image: Four sexual assault prevention experts from across campus organizations spoke with students and other professionals at UMD on April 14. Photo by Hannah Ziegler.