Taking a STEP toward healing, awareness, and solidarity: Sexual Assault Prevention Week at Hope College

During the final week of March, STEP celebrated Sexual Assault Prevention Week on campus through multiple educational events and opportunities for students to be in community with one another. STEP, or Students Teaching and Empowering Peers, is an on campus student organization whose “goal is to raise awareness about interpersonal violence and combat it on Hope’s campus.” Established in 2011, STEP describes themselves as a program of students who “volunteer their time to educate, empower, and encourage members of our campus community.” They offer support to survivors, education on consent and safe-sexual practices, and aim to ultimately prevent instances of violence on campus. To stay in-the-know about what STEP is up to, follow them on instagram @hopecollegestep, read their excerpts in “This Week at Hope,” or subscribe to their newsletter, “STEP Things.” 

During prevention week, STEP hosted three prevention and educational events. On Tuesday, March 25th, the programming was kicked off with a STEP Rep meeting for representatives from athletics and Greek Life organizations. The next event of the week was Hope’s first ever “Sex-Ed Social” on Thursday, March 27th in the Maas Auditorium. This all new event was made up of carnival-style games that tested students’ knowledge of sex myths, facts, STIs, consent, and more! Resources were given out alongside prizes, and one student in attendance shared that it was a “really fun way to normalize topics that can be uncomfortable to talk about”. The final event of this week, “Unraveling the Romance of Twilight” was held on Friday, March 28th in the Schaap Auditorium. Here, students were able to challenge the toxic relationship between the two main characters, Bella and Edward, that is put on a pedestal in the 2008 romantic-dramedy. Snacks were provided as students played bingo consisting of all of the red-flags in Bella and Edward’s relationship and prizes were given as the night progressed. However, the real prize is that through the efforts of STEP, students were able to take time to really consider their own interpersonal or sexual relationships, and make sure that they weren’t missing any red flags in real life. 

Sexual Assault Prevention week came to a close on April 1st with a final event – the opening reception of the sixth annual “What I Was Wearing” exhibition at the Kruizenga Art Museum. Inspired by the “What You Were Wearing” exhibit that premiered at the University of Arkansas in 2014, this installation displays “examples of outfits worn by survivors at the time the incident occurred.” Clothing and stories were submitted by Hope students, staff, and faculty who are survivors of sexual violence. This powerful exhibit’s opening reception provided attendees with the opportunity to design a patch for STEP’s survivor support quilt and experience the way that the exhibit, according to the “challenges the notion that provocative clothing is the cause of sexual assault and that sexual assault can be prevented by survivors alone.” The exhibit will remain open in the Kruizenga Art Museum from April 1 – 12, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 – 4:00pm. Additionally, Denim Day occurring on April 30th this year is a national campaign day dedicated to wearing denim in solidarity with survivors while raising awareness against sexual assault.

If you have experienced assault at any point in your lifetime, know that you are never alone. If you would like trauma-specific care or guidance on next steps, contact Hope’s Victim Advocate at advocacy@hope.edu or visit the Victim Advocacy and Prevention Education website here. If you are looking to make a report, visit the Title IX and Equal Opportunity website here. If you are in need of more general counseling, call Hope College Counseling and Psychological Services at 616.395.7945 for same day scheduling. 

(Featured image source: Give Lively website)