VOICES AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 mural home

Please take some time and read what others have to say about sexual violence and its impact.

"We hear Voices asking us. "Why did you let it happen to you? What did you do, or what were you wearing?" Instead we should be hearing it's not your fault. Why did he do it? Who gave him the right to hurt you and turn your life upside down."

"You got to find a way to survive cause they win when your soul dies."

"We can't let go of the ideal: a world without rape. We can't let go of the ideal: a socially just world without oppression of any kind."

"I have been to a trial supporting a victim of sexual violence i don't know how this victim surved it! I have never been to a sexual violence trial it was so degrading I really felt for the victim there was not much support while the victim was going through this now I realise how hard it is for victims and what they are facing in their future,the things the perpatrator did to the victim was unthinkable I wonder how people can come up with things to hurt victims anyways this is my comment

Legal Advocate cynthia carlson"

"Prevention is the key to stopping sexual abuse. If children are surrounded with messages about positive and healthy relationships and these healthy relationships are demonstrated by the people in their lives - parents, relatives, teachers, community members - and if this becomes the NORM, then we are really making strides in sexual violence prevention."

"Awareness is precious. Serve as an advocate for survivors of sexual violence!"

"Never lose hope that the work we are doing will one day help our daughters and granddaughters live in a society where sexual violence is not tolerated."

"I never thought it would happen to me. Everytime he did it he said he was sorry and only did it because he loved me. But I only really loved me when I feared him no more and ended it all. Anyone who causes me harm does not love me. I am a survivor or child and adult sexual abuse. Now I am a Social Worker working my best at protecting the innocent and advocating to stop the abuse."

"I feel that we need to really protect the children who are put through the Foster Care system. I have a male friend whom I have known for over 15 yrs who went through Foster home after Foster home when he was at the age of 8 and was molested several times by different perps. This includes female perps. He ended up growing w/alot of anger in him and nded up being locked up for 14 yrs in Prison for several physicall assaults on males. He is now out and was clean and sober and on the right track for 90 days and just recently slipped. He is always tellin me about how his anger for the sexual abuse has caused him all these problems and not to mention being on his 2nd strike. I really feel that if he could have been protected from the sexual assault he could have been on the right track. I dedicate this to my good friend Michael P. May he find the right path and be free from anger and pain."

"Any kind of abuse is horrible but sexual abuse by a relative is the worst. It completely turns your world upside down. However, the one thing that I have learned through all this is WHAT DOESNT KILL YOU ONLY MAKES YOU STRONGER!!! We can overcome anything we put our minds to!!"

"Freedom is our right...freedom from intimidation...freedom from manipulation...freedom from pain, fear, and abuse at the hands of others...bring this freedom to everyone!"

"I believe we need to speak out for those who do not have a voice,it does not hurt to ask if everything is okay. I wish I would have asked my sisters when we were growing up. My sisters are survivors of Sexual abuse at the hands of my father. I hope by speaking out we can help save a young child from this horrific act. Talk to your children, keep them close."

"Part of our work to prevent sexual violence needs to be undoing our society's blame and shaming of adult victims of sexual violence. It's easy to focus on children as the "innocent victims"; we need to be equally fierce and effective in convincing our communities that no one - adults or children - deserves to be hurt, humiliated, coerced, threatened, shamed, or denied basic human rights through any form of sexual violence. Only when our communities cease to blame the victims of violence, whatever their age, race, creed, ability, nationality, income or any other distinction, will we be able to end sexual violence."

"Morality is doing the right thing even when no one is looking."

"We are products of our past, but we needn't be its prisoner."

"We must continue to rethink our collective societial attitudes and practices regarding violence and the role of women. We must continue the artistry of mosaics, each voice each piece displayed brilliantly exclaiming that gender equity and respect will prevail until the picture is clearly seen. "

"We must continue the artistry of mosaics, that each voice representing each piece be displayed brilliantly exclaiming that gender equity and respect will prevail until the picture of a world without violence is clearly seen. "

"Sexual Violence seems to be growing everyday in the United States. We need to start to teach our younger generations about the prevention so that we can have a peaceful future for our next generation."

I am a survivor of Sexual Assualt!!!!!!!!!!!"

"It is not sexual violence; it is sexual assassination and should be regarded and punished as such."

"The first hurdle in preventing sexual violence is for the world to acknowledge that an epidemic exists!"

"1 out of 4 children in the US as sexually assaulted. This has to STOP!! We have to speak up loud and clear against this injustice. Help empower these children and let them know this won't be tolerated."

"You have a choice...do unto others as you would be done to."

"I was taken advantage of.

I used to be able to feel my flesh on command. I could barely think of a part and it would come alive. I could concentrate on the muscles in my ankles, the blood flowing through the veins in my calf, the click in my knees. Now I am dizzy, half-asleep floating, now. They call it dissociation and tell me it’s normal. Other people have this detached feeling, others feel their flesh like poison meat on bones. Others are confused about what ecstasy is, or means, or feels like. Pain has become the ultimate pleasure lately, and I fear the closeness I have to killing myself these days. I am titillated by the thought of greeting the god that cast me as the reject. I feel like handing him back his mess, his mistake. I feel like telling him, nice try, but this is not working out.

There are things that have helped. When other women befriend me, when men truly care, when people give a shit. The anger is dissapating these days. Thank god for the rape crisis center."

"Today I'am strong. They did not kill me off."

"End the Pain!"

"No one has the power or right to take your spirit, to take our soul, or take your life. Fight back, speak up, and become one of many survivors. Become another voice against sexual violence."

"The Pain

The Blame

And the shame

Belongs to the person or persons who have caused

you to go through the trauma of sexual assault.

Someday, someway, and somehow you will get through it.

Just believe. "

"Stopping sexual violence against women and children continues to be a LOW priority for our nation. We need to TAKE A STAND - both individually and collectively against this violent and very personal crime. "

"Women should be seen, and believed, and heard!!!!!! Above all else, women need to be respected! It's a hard battle, but as a collective unit we can take back our world!"

"Being abused is something that happens to you, it does not define who you are! Speaking out about abuse is the first step in healing. If you were a victim or are currently being abused speak out! Don't hide behind something that is not your fault!"

"Each day I come to work and know I will be seeing a young girl, or an old woman: A young boy or a teenager. Sometimes I'm the first to believe them. Often times they don't even believe in themselves. Each day there are more and more. Please let this end. Let the phones stop ringing, let the hospitals be empty, let the courtrooms go untouched. All it takes is ONE person to stop it. Everyone on this earth look into your heart and say "I will stop." You are ONE person. End sexual abuse."

"He took control of your life for a short period of time~~don't give him control forever!!"

"I was raised to believe I didn't measure up. For 30 years I've carried around the feeling that I didn't deserve any better than what that criminal did to me. I don't want to carry that burden anymore."

"I am a sexual assault victim advocate, and what I tell survivors is that 'you may think he has taken everything away from you but you STILL have a voice' LET EVERYONE HEAR YOUR VOICE, SPEAK UP AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE"

"Education is prevention"

"I AM A SURVIVOR and I have a voice."

"no one is left unaffected by sexual violence, and/or the threat of such violence..everynight that a women needs an escort to her car to feel safe, every evening that a women puts her running shoes back because its starting to get dark, every day that a young girl covers up her body so that she doesnt look like she is "asking for it", we as women are reminded to monitor our behavors because we are not safe."

"it is when you feel you feel you have no voice that you must speak the loudest. Sexual violence feeds on silence, speak now to be part of the solution to this abuse!"

"We can all end sexual violence by breaking our silence and unmasking the shame that comes with being subjected to sexual violence.

I will start today by saying I am a sexual assault survivor and I continue to heal through my work as a Victim's Advocate."

"We have to SCREAM, SHOUT, and FIGHT to stop sexual violence. We shouldn't have such a past to remind us to SCREAM, SHOUT, and FIGHT for our right to be innocent as children. I will SCREAM, SHOUT, and FIGHT to stop YOU!"

"Sometimes I find myself being drawn back into the dark hole where I store the memories of rape and molestation, BUT I REFUSE TO STAY THERE."

"Dos gardenias para mi...sobreviviente, activista, y Cubana-Americana.

Un abrazo a todas/os en la lucha contra la violencia sexual y domestica. May peace prevail."

"What if another man had told him: "Women are not objects", "Women are not holes", "Women are not less than men" and "You are not entitled to her body".

Then maybe, just maybe, I would not be a 1 in 5 Wyoming statistic.

It isn't about what I could have done to reduce the risk. It is about what we ALL do to prevent it!"

"Men need to realise this is a mens issue. If a man rapes a women, it causes a distrust of men, however slight, among women. we need one another as unquestioned allies, not as potential enemies."

"I think that we need to be more active in bring it to light. I am not sure that people are truly aware of how sexual violence effects people and those around them. I think this mural shows that."

"Let's not blame the victim for being assaulted and for wanting justice. "

"I believe "sexual violence" is mainly in the more subtle (therefore most dangerous of all perhaps) form of how females' dress & behavior is promoted to an overly sexual image. Females are constantly referred to only in terms of their looks--talk show hosts, for example, forever introduce female guests as "the beautiful..." & beauty contests are only for females. This makes no sense to me & it's extremely damaging to girls from a young age on throughout their lives. No wonder girls have much lower self-esteem than guys. The clothes marketed towards females are not sturdy or useful other than to make them flashy for guys...The material is scarce & thin & over-emphasizes their bodies with being tight, whereas guys' clothes are loose, sturdy & given truer respect, whether consciously or not. Guys are treated with respect for their accomplishments & girls/women are only valued for how they look. Also heeled shoes are ridiculous & have no sensible use for females. Why do females keep wearing these things that are not even comfortable & why do they hassle sooo much with their looks, in proportion to the hassle guys go through? ...I could go on forever, but mainly the worst violence of all is the subtle stuff that's offered, encouraged & expected of females continually, not to mention blindly & disrespectfully. The more obvious physical violence form will wane when culture starts to respect females, promoting true value of them. "

"Please, stand by us, the survivors. Stop treating us as social lepers.Be angry with us at what has happened to us. What has affected us directly affects everyone indirectly and until society shares our pain, our anger, we will not see an end to this evil"

"Preventing sexual violence includes preventing the secondary abuse of victims by those who shun and mock them, those who disbelive or dissmiss them, those who [verbally] assault them all over again."

"I healed... Now I'm the happiest person I know."

"To stop sexual violence, we first need to stop accepting sexual promiscuity."

"Everyone in the world needs to step up and realize that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed. The only way that we will be able to overcome sexual violence is if we get everyone and anyone involved in the fight."