Five Things You Should Know About Sexual Assault Awareness Month

1. It’s Been Around Since the name1980’s: Sexual Assault Awareness Month, otherwise known as SAAM, was established in the 1980’s. SAAM was created after organizers made October the month of awareness of domestic violence. Later, the National Coalition against Sexual Assault questioned activists on the week they would like to bring awareness to sexual assault. Activists chose one week in April. By the 1990’s, several sexual assault awareness events were provided throughout the month of April. Consequently, activists wanted to modify the week of Sexual Assault Awareness into Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In 2001, Sexual Assault Awareness was officially recognized by the United States as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

2. The Goal is to Educate the Public on How to Prevent Sexual Assault: Organizers wanted to create a time of awareness for sexual assault and educate the public on ways to prevent sexual assault from happening. Organizers hoped to encourage individuals to work together to help sexual assault survivors and end rape culture.
teal ribbon
3. It’s Represented By a Teal Ribbon: SAAM is represented by a teal ribbon. The teal ribbon signifies sexual violence prevention.

4. The Intended Audience is… Everyone: Resources and events are intended for the public. This includes parents, educators, coaches, spiritual leaders, and students of all ages. These events and activities are geared towards specific groups such as college students who are part of a Greek Life.

5. You Can Help With the SAAM Action Kit: Every year, activists and the public create posters, clothing, postcards, and coloring pages to inform people about SAAM. Furthermore, organizers designed an action kit that contains several useful resources. The action kit contains several pages of information about SAAM, how to bring awareness to the public, and numerous posters that individuals are able to print off and hang up around their communities. All resources are presented in different languages, including Spanish and English. Social media sites are another great place that SAAM organizers want the public to utilize. On Instagram, people can include #30DaysofSAAM in their posts. Additionally, people can promote SAAM during the month of April using #SAAM in their Twitter and Facebook posts.

Want to learn more? Visit the official SAAM website here: http://www.nsvrc.org/saamposter