Sexual violence affects all of us.
A recent survey of students at colleges across the United States revealed that 1 in 6 undergraduate students and 1 in 14 graduate and professional school students have experienced some type of non-consensual sexual contact since entering college.
While sexual violence affects people of all genders, this study showed that students who identified as transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, questioning, and other genders not listed within the survey disproportionately experienced non-consensual sexual contact.
What Can You Do?
As an Aggie you can help us turn words into action in two critical ways: understanding affirmative consent and becoming an upstander.
- So, what is consent?
- Consent is an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision to participate in a mutually agreed-upon sexual act. Consent can be revoked at any time. Consent is not possible when a person is incapacitated, coerced, forced, threatened, or intimidated.
When it comes to ANY kind of sexual contact, consent is mandatory and every sexual interaction you have must embody principles of consent.Waht
- What does it mean to be an upstander?
- An upstander is someone who takes active, intentional steps to stop sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Being an upstander is synonymous with being an Aggie. As an upstander you can:
Act
Get Help
Give Support
Intervene in a Safe Manner
Encourage Others to Speak Out
Be a part of this change.
Support and believe survivors of sexual violence. Advocate for survivors by challenging victim-blaming statements. Challenge comments or jokes that perpetuate rape culture or sexism. Take action by directly intervening or getting help if you see someone about to engage in sexual activity with someone who is not capable of giving consent.
Another way to help UC Davis end sexual violence on campus is to create and engage in healthy, respectful relationships; familiarize yourself with campus resources like the ones available on this page; and, most importantly, pledge to never commit or condone any acts of violence.
Help continue the conversation. On social media, use the #UConsent and #UCDavis Upstander hashtags to spark conversation about sexual violence and share your thoughts.
Be an Aggie. Be an upstander. Put an end to sexual violence.
Check out the AggieSnap videos.
As part of the campaign to end sexual violence at UC Davis, we created a series of videos that address common issues and misconceptions around consent and upstander intervention. Watch and share them with your friends!