No Frills About It

This past week, I was invited in to the classroom to teach a fewhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif classes on sexual violence. It was a very different experience for me. Don't get me wrong, I've been in front of a class several times before, but this was my first large lecture class that I had the opportunity to talk to. It is a health class offered here and there are about 200 student (that's a lot of handouts) per class. Aside from being amazed that my presentation magically appeared on the computer gadget thing when I arrive to the classroom, I was impressed by the level of engagement the students had.

In addition to my presentation, a WAM (Women's Awareness Month) chair of mine, told her experience with sexaul violence. It was powerful story and she's a great speaker. We'll be working together this year going in to the classroom to Talk About It. This story puts a face to sexual violence, not some slides on a screen. It puts someone in your community talking about it. It allows you to see and hear first hand just how this enemy effects not only the survivor but their families and community of people.

We teach that 1 in 4 college aged women and 1 in 6 men will be affected by sexual violence at some point in their college career. Standing in front of room full of college aged students I couldn't help but think my student wasn't the only person who survived such an experience.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month wear a purple ribbon in support!