Restoration Magazine

Help Organize to End Violence Against Women and the Land

Each year in April and throughout the year, grassroots organizations and advocates rise to raise awareness of sexual assault and its impacts on victim-survivors, particularly as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Also referred to as SAAM, Sexual Assault Awareness Month is an annual campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. Tribal and community-based programs and organizations, state and federal government agencies, rape crisis centers, businesses, campuses, and community members plan events and activities to highlight sexual violence as a public health, human rights, and social justice issue and reinforce the need for prevention efforts.

Sexual assault is a serious crime and widespread problem across the United States and Indian Country, where more than half of Native American women experience sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. It is important to note that while sexual violence impacts all genders, ages, and demographics, it disproportionately affects Native women who already face unique challenges and barriers to accessing support services, medical care, and justice.

The lasting impact of sexual violence is particularly painful given its ripple effects across our families and communities. For many of us, it is not uncommon for us to know a close relative or friend who has been victimized by sexual abuse or violence, a fear we know as “not if but when” our loved ones will be sexually violated.

Land-Body Connection

Important to the larger societal conversation around sexual violence is the Indigenous perspective linking the urgent need to address violence not only against Native women but also against the land. Violence toward the land–think extractive resource industries like fracking, oil pipelines, and mining–and the high rates of sexual violence aimed at the bodies of Indigenous women are undoubtedly interwoven. For Indigenous communities, it is impossible to ignore the interconnection between the exploitation of land and Indigenous bodies by non-Native perpetrators and entities.

Culturally, we view any attack on the land–our Mother Earth-–as an attack on the lives and bodies of Indigenous women. Like the land, women ground, support, and sustain our families and our communities, so naturally the instinct to protect the land and her female spirit is ingrained in us as Indigenous people.

This intersection is acutely visible in and near Tribal communities, given the rise in oil and gas workers stationed in temporary housing–often referred to as “man camps,” which has led to increased reports of sexual violence and sex trafficking crimes in Indigenous communities. Areas of note include the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota due to the Bakken oil boom, and in Bemidji, Minnesota in relation to crimes reported adjacent to the Enbridge Line 3 project. Further, the historical exploitation of Indian lands and people informs current social and economic conditions that contribute to increased sex trafficking of Native women and children.

Nationally, the most recent figures find more than half–more specifically, more than one in every two-–Indigenous women in the United States have faced sexual violence (56.1 percent), according to the National Institute of Justice. This same study also found most Native females (97 percent) were victimized at the hands of at least one interracial individual (ex. non-Native individual).

Similarly, we cannot ignore the burden of the climate change threat, which directly impacts Mother Earth and Indigenous women. As stated in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council Resolution 48/13 “The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the consequences of climate change “fall most heavily on those already in vulnerable situations, including women and Indigenous peoples.”

According to the UN, these consequences can include when Indigenous people are forcefully displaced or relocated against their will or suffer distress or disconnection to their traditional subsistence lifeways (ex. hunting, fishing, gathering). The impact of climate change-related environmental disasters like extreme flooding or storms, wildfires, and severe drought caused by extreme heat, and erosion can directly threaten the safety and well-being of Indigenous women, as these crises force Indigenous people from their homelands, which can exacerbate gender-based violence and the disruption of their social, cultural, and traditional life-ways of protection and stability.

Growing a Historical Movement

In addition to the united calls for justice by Indigenous grassroots advocates against sexual violence, there are national efforts continually underway to help communities and Tribes organize for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Each year, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) launches an annual SAAM theme and updates resources and materials for the national campaign efforts with assistance from anti-sexual assault organizations throughout the United States. You can find updated SAAM information as it becomes available through the NSVRC online at nsvrc.org/saam.

Historically, women around the world began organizing protests against violence beginning in the late 1970s in England with Take Back the Night marches. These women-only protests emerged in direct response to the violence that women encountered as they walked the streets at night. These activities became more coordinated and soon developed into a movement that extended to the United States.

In 1978, the first Take Back the Night events in the U.S. were held in San Francisco and New York City. Over time, sexual assault awareness activities expanded to include the issue of sexual violence against men and men’s participation in ending sexual violence.

By the early 1980s, there was increased interest in coordinating activities to raise awareness of violence against women. As a result, time was set aside during October to raise awareness of violence against women issues. Over time, October became the focus of domestic violence awareness activities.

Sexual assault advocates looked for a separate time to spotlight sexual assault issues. In the late 1980s, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCASA) informally polled state sexual assault coalitions to determine when to have a national Sexual Assault Awareness Week. A week in April was selected. In the late 1990s, many advocates began coordinating activities throughout April on a regular basis, promoting an idea for a nationally recognized month for sexual violence awareness activities.

From 2000-2001, the Resource Sharing Project (RSP) and the NSVRC polled state, territory, and Tribal coalitions and found that the color teal was the preferred color for sexual assault awareness and prevention and that April was the preferred month to coordinate national sexual assault awareness activities. As a result, Sexual Assault Awareness Month was first observed nationally in April 2001.

Protections for Women and the Land

For victim-survivors of sexual violence, we know what has happened cannot be undone or truly forgotten. As advocates, our role is to support their journeys one step at a time with much-needed support so that they can determine and find their own sense of healing, and feel safe in their communities once again. We can also work together to lift survivors’ voices and organize for better accountability and justice for these crimes.

Throughout the year and in April in particular for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, NIWRC lifts the incredible efforts by Tribes and advocates to honor survivors of sexual violence and bring sexual assault awareness and prevention to the forefront. As part of these efforts, consider some of these recommendations for supporting victim-survivors of sexual violence as part of your advocacy:

• Learn more about what sexual assault is and access culturally-based awareness materials on NIWRC’s Sexual Violence Awareness page: niwrc.org/sexual-violence-awareness
• Find statistics about the impact of sexual violence in Indian Country. View NIWRC fact sheet: n8ve.net/BmEoX
• Read the report, ​​Sexual Victimization in Indian Country: Barriers and Resources for Native Women Seeking Help: n8ve.net/POr50
• Explore Indigenous land-body connection by reading “Land Threats: Women and Mother Earth are Sacred” beginning on pg. 20.

There are several more resources available in NIWRC’s Resource Library to help you learn more about this critical issue and how you can help advocate for change. You can find some of these resources in our SAAM Resource Box below. Together we can help Native survivors reclaim their bodies, their lives, and safety in their communities, so all of our relatives are safe, all the time, and in all circumstances.

WATCH

• Webinar - Creating a Circle of Safety featuring the work of the Ogitchidakwe Council: n8ve.net/zkCpS
• Webinar - Sexual Violence Against Elders: n8ve.net/YwqKC

LISTEN

• Speaking Our Truth, Podcast for Change: niwrc.org/podcast
• Ep. 15 - Sexual Assault Advocacy featuring StrongHearts Native Helpline
• Ep. 16 - Sexual Assault Issues in Alaska

CUSTOMIZE

• Proclamation Template - 
• Sexual Assault Awareness Month: n8ve.net/I4p6b

CONTACT

• StrongHearts Native Helpline 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483), a 24/7 domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual violence helpline for Native Americans. strongheartshelpline.org