Media Advisory: BARCC Experts Available to Discuss Issues Related to Sexual Assault During Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a time dedicated to raising public awareness about sexual violence and educating communities on how to prevent it. This year’s theme is “I Ask,” which champions the message that asking for consent is a healthy, normal, and necessary part of everyday interactions.

“The media has done an extraordinary job over the last 18 months exposing the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in schools, workplaces, and other institutions,” said Gina Scaramella, executive director of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. “But we need more explorations of what consent is, what it looks like, and how people of all genders and ages can engage in these discussions.”

For media covering SAAM stories about consent and other topics related to sexual violence, both Scaramella and BARCC Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Manager Katia Santiago-Taylor will be available for interviews.

Scaramella is an expert on sexual harassment, abuse, and assault issues in general; the medical and mental health needs of survivors; and rape as a public health issue. She can speak about consent and the importance of educating young people about how to talk about it. She has shared her expertise in op-eds and interviews with outlets that include New England Cable News (NECN), WBUR’s Radio Boston, the Boston Globe, WGBH, U.S. News & World Report, and the Hill.

Santiago-Taylor can speak about legislative and policy solutions that will help survivors, as well as advocacy efforts to enact systems change. She has shared her expertise in media outlets that include WBZ CBS Boston, Univision, and State House New Service. She can do interviews in both English and Spanish.

To schedule an interview with Scaramella or Santiago-Taylor for your SAAM coverage, please contact our marketing and communications manager, at media@barcc.org or 617-649-1288.

Facts about sexual violence

• Sexual violence is any form of sexual interaction without consent (or permission). Consent means that you want to be engaged in whatever sexual behavior is happening.
• Sexual violence affects people of all genders, ages, races, religions, incomes, abilities, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Survivors often know the person who assaulted them. Sexual violence takes many forms, including rape or sexual assault; childhood sexual abuse and incest; sexual harassment; sexual exploitation and trafficking; unwanted sexual contact/touching; exposing one's genitals to others without consent; or public masturbation.
• In Massachusetts, 17% of female adults and 5.5% of male adults reported that they had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Adults with a disability (males and females combined) were nearly twice as likely to report experiencing sexual violence as adults without a disability. Nationwide, almost one in two transgender people (47%) surveyed have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime (U.S. Transgender Survey).
• In Massachusetts, 10.4 percent of high school students reported having sexual contact against their will in the past year; 6.8 percent said they had been physically forced to have sexual intercourse.
• Sexual assault and harassment are severely underreported for a variety of reasons, including shame, fear of not being believed, and not wanting privacy violated. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that less than 10% of survivors reported the assault to authorities. In terms of campus sexual assault in Massachusetts, there were only 446 reported cases of sexual victimization at a college campus between 2000 and 2011.

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About the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC)

Founded in 1973, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center has a mission to end sexual violence through healing and social change. BARCC provides free, confidential support and services to all survivors of sexual violence ages 12 and up and their families and friends throughout Greater Boston. It works with survivors regardless of when the assault occurred, and its goal is to empower survivors to heal and seek justice. BARCC also works with a wide range of organizations and communities, including schools, colleges, and police, to advocate for change. It provides training in how to respond to survivors and create cultures that prevent sexual violence in the first place. Follow BARCC on social media: Twitter @barcc; Instagram @barccofficial; Facebook /barcc.org.