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Message from Andrew Audas                                        VRF Youth Ambassador  

Sexual assault/harrassment is a problem that has been permitted in our society for way too long, especially among our youth. Most of the time when a student is sexually assaulted/harassed it goes unnoticed by their peers and administration. Teachers abuse their authority to silence their victims, fellow students make it impossible for survivors to speak out, and all of this is due to the stigma around adolescent assault/harassment.

The way we can work towards ending the stigma around sexual assault/harrassment in society is by creating platforms for survivors and witnesses to report instances of these heinous acts. I know that recently many highschool students in our area have created anonymous social media accounts to publicly share these stories. Accounts such as @survivorsatwhitman, on Instagram, have truly helped me gain a better understanding of what happens in our schools. After reading many of these stories I have come to realise that a large problem in our school system is student suppression. There have been numerous stories of male teachers harassing young girls by either making inappropriate comments on their clothing, or even inappropriately touching them. However, when these stories are reported they rarely take action and often assume the student is being ‘hysterical’ or that the teacher is a ‘good guy’ and would never do something like that.

Most students who sexually assault or harass fellow students often get away with the same excuse, but they are supported by our own peers. Abusers will get supported by their friends or hide behind their fake social image and continue to live life as normal, while the victims must live life among their abuser. Due to the lack of support from our schools administration and the stigma in high school culture, the victim must take everything on themselves. They must go to classes with their abuser, they must live in silence around their classmates in an attempt to keep their social life intact, and they must forever cope with these attacks alone. We need to change our culture and our support system, so that we may stop permitting sexual assault/harrassment.

We can no longer assume that these things can’t happen in our society because of the reputation of abusers. We can no longer take the enemy's side because the evidence brought forward for assault/harassment doesn’t fit the outdated county requirement. We can no longer accept abusers in our society, and we must do anything we can to bring them to justice.

I know I will never truly understand what it is like to be a victim of sexual assault/harrassment, but I will continue to listen to survivors and try to end sexuall assault/harrassment. I will continue to speak up whenever I notice someone being assaulted/harrassed, and I will continue to attempt to end the stigma around sexual assault/harrassment.