SAPA speaker in Gunnison

Western State
College's Sexual Assault Prevention Advocates (SAPA) group invited a speaker to
their last meeting on Tuesday. This speaker, who will be anonymously referred to
as Faye for the purposes of this article, came representing both Alamosa and
Mineral counties to speak about her work as a victims advocate. "Working with
victims is my passion", she said and talked about specific sexual assault cases
she has had to work on. Some of these involved very small children and some
involved wealthy perpetrators, respected by their community and difficult to
prosecute.

Faye went over a number of
statistics about sexual assault and left an ample supply of literature for the
SAPA program.

The group discussed how
mentally damaging it can be to have been sexually assaulted. Most of the sexual
assault victims Faye has worked with develop self-destructive behaviors such as
copious alcohol and drug use, dropping out of school, or becoming highly
promiscuous. Some develop clinical depression or post-traumatic stress
disorder.

Faye shared her own experiences
with Sexual Assault as well. Her and her brother had been attacked at nearly the
same time. She used drugs to try to run away from the problem until almost
killing herself in a car accident. He has been on
anti-depressants.

Faye also discussed what a SANE
(Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) evaluation is like. Describing it as "More
invasive than the actual rape ... I would not wish that on anybody." But if a
victim is to prosecute, the evidence from that evaluation is needed. According
to Faye, many people do not come forward with their story because of this, or
because it is taboo, or because they simply don't know if the assault was a
crime.

The main question of the night
was what could be done about sexual assault and how to prevent
it.

At Adams State College in
Alamosa, they have installed "blue phones" which are immediately connected to
911 when the receiver is picked up and blast light all around the phone. Adams
State is also trying to "silence the night" by lighting up every
corner.

However, the biggest thing we
can do, according to Faye, is to educate people. "The fact of the matter is, a
woman should be able to walk around naked without being assaulted."