RAINN Day is an annual day of action to raise awareness and educate students about sexual violence on college campuses. A grassroots program, RAINN Day is designed to empower college students to educate their peers about risk reduction and recovery resources on their campus.
RAINN Day – The Third Tuesday of September
The observance of RAINN Day is held the third Thursday of September. However, some schools extend RAINN Day events to last a week, or even a month. Check with your school about its particular programs. Wear a teal awareness ribbon during September to show your awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. You can also wear a personalized teal awareness ribbon pin engraved with a name, date or message. This is a very public form of communication about an issue, especially one as personal as sexual assault.
Laws Vary By State About Sexual Consent – Be Aware
The laws about consent vary by state and situation, and this should be explored on RAINN Day. These differences make the topic confusing for some people. However, you don’t have to be a legal expert to understand how consent plays out in real life. Consent is an agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. There are many ways to give consent and we discuss some of those below.
Sexual Permission and Consent
For example, consent does not have to be verbal, but verbally agreeing to different sexual activities can help both you and your partner respect each other’s boundaries. In addition, when you engage in sexual activity, consent is about communication. And consent should happen every time. Further, giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact. One example of this is that agreeing to kiss someone doesn’t give that person permission to remove your clothes. Another example is that having sex with someone in the past doesn’t give that person permission to have sex with you again in the future.
RAINN Day and Communicate
In addition, you can change your mind at any time. You can withdraw consent at any point if you feel uncomfortable. It is, therefore, important to clearly communicate to your partner that you are no longer comfortable with an activity and wish to stop if your consent changes. The best way to ensure both parties are comfortable with any sexual activity is to talk about it.
(Content: RAINN.org. Image: projectconsent.com.)
#rainn #consent #rapeculture #sex #sexualassault #sexualabuse #victim #survivor #campus #campuslife #girlgang #protect #friends #respect #no #nomeansno #party #smart #saam #awareness #college #collegelife #beaware