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SEXUAL ASSAULT ISSUE
LETTER EDITOR from the
I’m writing this while watching the State of the Union Address. As a poor excuse of a man speaks I am reminded this is the same individual facing multiple accusations of sexual assault. This man is the president. A president who has also appointed multiple alleged rapists in the highest power of our country. This is the man who stated you could do anything to women if you are famous, such as, “you can do anything ... grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” along with many other comments that perpetuate a misogynistic ideology. This is a president that allows predators to run this country, making it very clear the Trump administration does not support survivors of sexual assault. It’s 2020 and we have taken 50 steps back. It’s time to have a conversation that is uncomfortable, especially on a college campus where on average 11.2% of the nation’s students will experience sexual assault or rape. This issue is dedicated to moving forward the conversation we need to have by giving a platform to the surviors of sexual assault. Before I tell you what the stories are I want to give a trigger warning, if you or someone close to you has been a victim of sexual assault each of our articles will address this topic, so if this is a sensitive topic for you feel free to put this issue down. Our sexual assault issue takes a close look into the Title IX: Gender Equity and Sexual Misconduct services on campus regarding what students should know about Title IX, how the training works, and if students trust the service on campus. We have an article about a survivor’s journey of realization that their consent was violated and how they moved forward. We have created a listed of resources on and off campus and our digest page is dedicated to how sexual assault is discussed in literature.
SUNDIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief
Madison Parsley editor@csun.edu
Managing Visual Logan Bik Editor photo@csun.edu News Editor Gillian Moran-Perez city@csun.edu Assistant News Editor Kimberly Silverio-Bautista city@csun.edu Chief Copy Editor Ivey Mellem copydesk@sundial.csun.edu Copy Editors Munina Lam Pradnya Kalgutkar copydesk@sundial.csun.edu A&E Editor Ivan Salinas ane@csun.edu Assistant A&E Editor Deja Magee Moss ane@csun.edu Opinion Editor Michaella Huck opinion@csun.edu Features Editor Natalie Miranda Sports Editor Bryanna Winner sports_sundial@csun.edu Assistant Sports Editor Andres Soto sports_sundial@csun.edu Social Media Manager
Natalie Fina sundialsocialmedia@sundial.csun.edu
Production Manager Elaine Sanders Graphic Designers Ewan McNeil Elaine Sanders Illustrator Joelena Despard Video Editor Elaine Sanders
It’s 2020 and it’s time to wake up. Thank you,
Assistant Video Editors Brendan Reed-Crabb Noelle Nakamura
Madison Parsley Editor-in-Chief
Sales Representatives Pathik Patel Kelly Salvador Olivia Vakayil Estefano Vasquez
CONTENTS
“Consenting to Condoms” Page 4 “Nine Things to Know” Page 6 “Sexual Assault and Literature” Page 12
Natalie Miranda
Gillian Moran-Perez
Deja Magee
Sales Support HaoWen Hsueh Distribution Lead Brendan Reed-Crabb Distribution Nicole Benda
One woman’s emotional journey with stealthing.
The top nine things to know about Title IX at CSUN.
Six books that take a look at sexual assault and rape and how survivors, both real and literary, have coped.
Publisher Arvli Ward arvli.ward@csun.edu General Manager Jody Holcomb jody.doyle@csun.edu Business Manager Sandra Tan sandra.tan@csun.edu Published weekly by the Department of Journalism at California State University, Northridge Manzanita Hall 140 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330-8258 News - 818-677-2915 | Advertising - 818-677-2998
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CITY@CSUN.EDU
OPINION
MEET THE PEOPLE BEHIND TITLE IX AT CSUN Story by Office of Equity and Diversity / Illustrations by Elaine Sanders
BARRETT MORRIS
Barrett Morris joined CSUN as Director of the Office of Equity and Diversity last semester. Barrett has over 15 years of experience in higher education, serving in various administrative positions (Chief Human Resources Officer, Executive Director of Compliance and Title IX Coordinator) at both public and private institutions. Prior to serving in Higher Education, Barrett served as a state and federal Civil Rights Representative for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Barrett has a passion for working in higher education to improve equity and compliance practices at each institution he serves. As director of Equity and Diversity here at CSUN, Barrett’s office deals with such things as sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, discrimination and equity in athletics. He says that when folks on campus see they have a call coming in from the Equity office, they shouldn’t assume something is wrong. After all, the goal of his office is to help university personnel avoid making mistakes in the first place and to proactively address student, faculty and staff concerns of sexual and gender-based harassment and discrimination.
CHARLOTTE WALDO
SIOBHAN CULLEN
Siobhan Cullen began working as a DHR/Title IX Investigator this semester. Cullen has nearly two decades of experience in public education, both as a teacher and as an attorney representing school districts in employment, discrimination, Title IX and special education matters. Cullen brings with her a background in and passion for training and looks forward to working with student, staff, and faculty groups to develop customized and comprehensive training programs.
Charlotte Waldo started working as a DHR/Title IX Investigator last semester. She has an extensive background investigating discrimination and harassment complaints working with Los Angeles County and as an attorney in private practice. What she likes most about working at CSUN is interacting with students and connecting them to the resources they need, whether that be accommodations in the classroom or making them feel safe through nocontact directives. When a student comes into the office with an issue involving a Title IX issue, whether that be an issue involving sexual misconduct or harassment, we want them to know that they are the ones that will drive the direction of their complaint.
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CONSENTING TO CONDOMS One woman’s emotional journey with stealthing. Story and photo by Natalie Miranda Plush white snow seems much scarier at 2 a.m. when the Big Bear sky is dark enough to swallow it whole, and snow-capped mountains with winding, narrow lanes are a feat too daunting for a car without chains. In a critical moment, a young woman needed to decide to take on a potentially dangerous commute home or stay under a roof with someone who covertly violated her defenses — she chose the latter, because at least inside, the damage endured moments earlier was already behind her. On Feb. 9, 2016, then-20-year-old Megan* was sexually assaulted by the only sexual partner she had ever known. He went against her wishes of using a condom during sex and removed it without her consent. “We were facing each other and then he’d kind of turned me so my back was towards him and then, I don’t know how exactly I knew that he had initially taken the condom off, but he had his hands on my hips and one hand was on my hip like normal. And the other one was in a fist so in my head, when I looked at it, he had it in his hand. And then he kept going and I didn’t say anything, and I always beat myself up for not saying anything.” Megan remembers the attempted cover up of the assault. “When he had finished, he pulled out and then he kind of did some type of snapping motion with the condom that was still in his hand to purposely make me think that he had just taken it off, which is so manipulative,” Megan said. “He only thought about what he wanted in that moment. He didn’t think about what would’ve happened after. He didn’t even think about the fact that I could tell he did it.” She said she was having a conversation in her head trying to process the disbelief. “We weren’t in that moment for like a very, very long time, but I feel like when it was happening everything stopped for a second and I was like, ‘Is this really freaking happening?’” She asked herself. “Does everybody do this? Does every guy try to do that?” This act of removing a condom during sex without consent is sexual assault. It is rape-adjacent, and is commonly known as “stealthing.” After taking a moment to recover in the bathroom, Megan said she considered leaving, but the time and potential risk of driving in snow without chains on her wheels prevented her, so instead, she went to sleep. “We laid right next to each other, and I remember just looking at him laying there with his eyes closed and I was just like, ‘Oh man, he has no idea that I know,’” Megan said. “And I felt like I let him win by not saying anything.” The next morning, Megan said she took the car ride home to decompress and process the night before. “I drove home with no music on,” she said. “I was just thinking how I was going to tell him that I knew and that I don’t want to talk to him anymore. And the difficult part about it was that I still had feelings for him, which was super confusing. I was fighting myself on the ride home.” Reflecting on her options the night before, she felt trapped, not because she was forced to stay, but because there was no safe way home at the time she contemplated leaving. “I was just thinking I can’t go anywhere,” Megan said. “It was in the middle of winter, it was snowing, the elevations were high and the snow was a couple of feet high. I can’t drive home. It’s completely dark outside in the middle of the night. Even when I drove home the next day, like there was so much snow.” Megan said the initial red flags were there when she suspected that he tried to remove the condom behind her back, and when she tried to confront him about it, he became defensive. There were at least two instances where she caught him in the act, but she never anticipated his success — until he did it. “I could tell because I had the feeling,” Megan said. “I noticed his body language and saw what he was doing. And I asked him if he took it off. He said
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Photo illustration of Megan in her home on Feb. 9..
no, he got upset with me, and told me not to ruin the moment. He left the room, left me sitting there by myself, and I was feeling really rejected and really hurt. It was just very like gaslight-y of him to make it seem like it was my fault, like I’m crazy, I’m seeing things or I’m just overreacting.” And despite the trauma, she said she’s able to look past the situation and remember the good that came with that relationship. He remains in her life as friends to this day, because she refuses to see him as a villain and perceive herself as a victim. “I hate to lose someone that brought me joy in my life. He’s made me feel my worst, but he’s also made me feel my best,“ Megan said. “I do truly believe that we’re not in each other’s lives because he just wanted sex from me. I don’t believe that. We did have other moments. We did have a friendship at the same time.” After a few days passed, she decided to send him a lengthy text to let him know what was on her mind — including the fact that she knew he removed his condom during intercourse. “I think he apologized to me for hurting me, but I don’t think he apologized for doing something that he knew I wasn’t okay with,” Megan said. “I think he was just like, ‘Oh wow, she’s hurt. I guess I have to apologize.’ And he didn’t talk to me for days after I sent him that message so he was probably thinking about it.” She said that even though he apologized, she believes he doesn’t fully grasp the toll his actions had on her mental health. “I’m done trying to like get him to understand why it matters to me,” Megan said. “I can’t force someone to understand, but it does affect me because now it is something I think about with any guy that I’m ever going to be with. I keep a super close eye and make sure that they’re not going to, because I am scared of that happening again.” Megan said she felt angry that she didn’t leave at the initial warning signs, but was torn between reality and falling in love so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. “In the middle of it, I would look or check to make sure that he still had it on,” she said. “I was still
skeptical. The first time he tried to do it, he broke a lot of that trust and that made me paranoid that he was going to do it again. But I think I was just really blindsided by the fact that I had feelings for him and that I wanted something more with him.” And although she hasn’t fully cut him out of her life, she doesn’t dismiss or excuse the way he made her feel. “What an asshole. I can’t believe he would do that to me. He knew that I wasn’t okay with that and he did it anyway. I hate the fact that he thought that he won, but I really don’t want to give him enough credit for how much power he had over me,” Megan said. “I don’t think he realized it. I don’t even want to give him the credit for being smart enough to know how to manipulate me. I think he did it by accident.” Ellen Barabasz, a long-time friend of Megan’s, said she doesn’t know what she went through, but she doesn’t understand why she wants him to keep coming back in her life. “From a friend’s perspective, I wish she would have cut him out of her life a long time ago,” Barabasz said. “It should have definitely ended when he sexually assaulted her then lied about it. He is toxic to her and always will be, he doesn’t deserve a person like her.” Megan said that she tried to gather information of these types of sexual assaults online, but at the time, she found very little. It made her feel weary about whether or not this type of behavior was unique to her. In more recent years, with the birth of the #MeToo movement, she said learning about people with similar situations makes her feel validated. “This has been happening for years and years and years, like every day for so many people,” Megan said. “And if it hasn’t been legally defined as sexual assault, how can I view it as something that bad? I feel like I didn’t view it like that because I’m like, ‘Well, maybe this is just a thing that happens.’ If nobody is talking about it as sexual assault, how can I say he sexually assaulted me or how can he understand it as a sexual assault if there’s no law?” She said it’s terrifying to think about how someone she once really trusted violated her boundaries, and how it can potentially happen again. “I was there for him,” Megan said. “I gave him everything that I could’ve given him at the time. So if he could do that to me, so can a guy that doesn’t care about me and so can a guy that does care about me.” Therapy has helped her move forward, but she recognizes that it’s an on-going internal struggle that she’s still trying to navigate. Poetry and creative writing have been outlets to help her cope. It allows her to verbalize thoughts and emotions in a way that feels like its truest and purest form. She has a notebook that she uses to capture inspiration when it strikes, but she also has a poetry blog that acts as her journal or diary. From Megan’s creative essay “Him: A Love Story,” an excerpt reads: “He may have felt like I rushed him, which was not my intention. That’s when I realized he really did it. This time he removed the only thing that still created a barrier between the two of us. The one thing separating trust and betrayal. When you took the condom off, I knew it, but I froze. I had no say in the violation of my body because he did it in secret, I stood there speechless. I looked at him speechless. I laid there speechless.“ Megan said she thinks she’s a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. “I feel like I’m really sensitive, and I do let a lot of things get to me and really tear me apart,” Megan said. “And there are so many times like in poems that I say that he completely destroyed me and he broke me. And sometimes I look at that and I’m like, ‘That’s not true, because I’m so much stronger than that to have been broken by him.’ In a weird way, I’m hoping that there are things that are going to hurt worse than that in my life. If I can get through that, I can get through other things.”
*Name changed for anonymity CITY@CSUN.EDU
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NINE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TITLE IX By Gillian Moran - Perez
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After a student has filed a complaint, within 10 working days an interview will be conducted with the coordinator of the Title IX office. In cases of sexual misconduct, dating or domestic violence, or stalking, the coordinator will inform the student about the right to file a criminal complaint and the right to an advisor. The coordinator will also advise of campus resources such as campus police, Campus Sexual Assault Victim’s Advocate, counseling and the campus health center.
The student or complainant will know within 10 days if their complaint has been accepted for investigation and the timeline of the procedure. A Title IX Coordinator or Discrimination/Harassment/Retaliation Administrator will notify the complainant.
A complainant’s request may be denied, and the Title IX Coordinator would have to notify the student within 10 days. The request may be denied if the complaint does not align with the guidelines stated in EO 1097.
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The respondent or the accused will be called in and interviewed by the Title IX Coordinator or the DHR Administrator, where they will receive a copy of the complainant’s allegations against them. The respondent will also be informed of the investigation timeline and the right to an advisor.
Following the interview, the investigator takes up to 60 days to write and submit a full investigation report to the Title IX Coordinator or the DHR Administrator. The longest the investigation can extend is 30 days after the original due date if the investigation requires more evidence.
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Within 10 days of receiving the investigation report, the DHR Administrator or the Title IX Coordinator will review the report and notify the complainant and the respondent in writing of the investigation outcome. Both parties can request a full copy of the report as well.
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The written notice will dictate whether the EO was violated and any remedies given to the complainant. The complainant and respondent will also be notified if they can appeal to the Chancellor’s Office of the notice. The Chancellor’s Office has 30 days to respond unless the timeline has been extended for any legitimate reason the Title IX Coordinator may provide or there is a mutual agreement between both parties.
Another route a student may request is the Early Resolution process instead of or before filing a complaint. The purpose of this process is to explore whether the complainant’s concern can be resolved without an investigation. The complainant must contact the DHR Administrator or Title IX Coordinator to discuss any concerns and possible resolutions. Possible resolutions include discussions with the parties, a resolution facilitated between the DHR Administrator or Title IX Coordinator, referring one or both parties to counseling programs, separation, an agreement of disciplinary action or providing other remedies to the person harmed by the violation of the policy. The Title IX Coordinator or DHR Administrator may also meet with both parties and other witnesses deemed necessary. When a resolution is reached, a written notice will be completed. If the respondent is another student, the Student Conduct Administrator will notify them of the outcome. If the respondent is an employee, Human Resources will notify them of the outcome. If a resolution is not met, then the DHR Administrator or the Title IX Coordinator will determine if the complaint is appropriate for investigation.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS 1. Students have a right to an advisor during the hearing and notice of the outcome
During the investigation, both parties will have equal opportunities to present relevant witnesses and evidence in connection to the investigation. Both parties will have the opportunity to respond to the evidence and present further relevant evidence, information or arguments.
OPINON@CSUN.EDU
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The Chancellor’s Office appeal response is final and concludes the appeal process.
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2. The campus must act promptly to investigate 3. The campus must provide any accommodations for the student to continue learning 4. A student will be kept safe from retaliating harassment after filing a complaint 5. A campus must provide sexual violence prevention training
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YOU’RE NOT ALONE: RESOURCES TO HELP A list of resources that the CSUN community provides access or assistance to anyone who is a victim or survivor or anyone who knows a victim or survivor of sexual assault. By Gillian Moran-Perez
Tit le IX C o o rdin ato
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Ba rre t Mor ri s su pp or ts st uden ts th ro ug h al l Ti tl e IX re la te d ca se s.
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R ap e A gg re ss io n De fe ns e (R AD)
RAD, un de r th e De pa rt me nt of Po lic e Se r vic es, pr ov ide s st uden ts wi th se lf- de fe ns e st ra te gie s.
University Counseling Ser vices Provides contin uous counse ling and emoti onal suppor t.
De pa rt men t of Po lic e Se rv ic es
Th e De pa rt me nt of Po lic e Se r vic es ca n of fe r safe ty an d as sis ta nc e th ro ug h cr im in al in ve st iga tio ns an d pr ov ide pr ot ec tio n orde rs .
Center for Assault Treat men t Serv ices North ridge Hospit al provides forens ic medic al exams and tre atmen t for sur vi vors.
ome s t ic N at io n a l D t li ne : Vio le n c e H o -SA 1-800-799
u de n t K l o t z St e n te r He a l t h C
FE (7233).
Crisis Text Line:
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un it y re so urce A C SUN co mm v ides a ce n te r th a t p ro co un se li n g 24 -h o ur cr is is am w it h a n d re sp on se te ca te s w h o ce rt if ie d a d v o v ic ti m or w il l a ss is t a n y di n g th e ri gh t su r v i v or in fi n ce s. med ic a l re so ur
Tex t HOM E to 741741 abo ut any t ype of cris is fro m any wh ere in the U.S .
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CITY@CSUN.EDU
WHY STUDENTS DON’T USE TITLE IX SERVICES One in four women reportedly experience sexual assault during their college career, and only one in five contact the Title IX office about their experiences.
The Emergency Blue Lights are located around the CSUN campus and are connected to a police dispatcher.
By Michaella Huck / Photo Illustration by Ivan Salinas The CSUN campus has numerous resources that are designed to help victims of sexual misconduct get the justice they deserve, one of the most notable being the Title IX office. Located at the far right on the second floor of University Hall, the Title IX office’s purpose is to help foster a better learning enviorment for students by managing issues of sexual misconduct and violence as well as gender-based discrimination. While the office is a place to seek help, it isn’t being used as much as it could be. Getting statistics that reflect the exact amount of students that feel safe on this campus is hard. Each year, CSUN launches a “Campus Climate Survey,” a survey for students, faculty, staff and administration to give their honest opinions on this campus. The questions include demographic information and questions about the campus in general. It’s difficult to weigh what students truly feel because on average only 4% of students answer the survey launched. When asked, students around campus couldn’t identify where the Title IX office was and what they did on campus.
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“I know we have those videos on our portal. I didn’t know it was a real place,” said Shaina Alvarado, a deaf studies major. Sexual violence isn’t a topic people have around the kitchen table, either — it’s taboo and awkward. A sexual assault survior, wanting only to be known as Kait, described her experiences taking her truth to the police department: “They hounded me with questions like maybe they thought I was lying,” she said. She explained the way the officials treated her when trying to seek help has made her skeptical to use any resources that claim empathy. Kait’s story may not be the reality for everyone; however, students hearing other students’ traumatic experiences may lead to lack of trust in the offices to protect students on campus. “I’m Latina, I was raised in Van Nuys. We don’t go to offices when (sexual misconduct) happens; we call our brothers, they will handle it,” Alvarado said after being asked if she is comfortable talking to police or on-campus resources about an assault if it were to occur. Title IX Coordinator Barrett Morris echoed
Alvarado’s ideas, stating that “students might be apprehensive of using internal mechanisms, but we’re here to guide the process.” The solution starts with breaking down the stigma that comes with sexual violence. According to a recent survey by Johns Hopkins University, only 20% of women surveyed believed their case will be investigated fairly. After Brock Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and served six months in prison, this may be a fair assumption. However, resources on campus need to break down barriers and formulate trust with the students again to make a difference. While the numbers will never be perfect and not every survivor will come forward, it’s important that students don’t feel like they’re alone. Title IX is available to help you seek legal action if you fall victim to sexual violence or misconduct on campus. Project D.A.T.E. is available in University Student Counseling Services to help students know their rights and bring awareness to rape on campus. In addition, there are more on and off-campus resources available on the CSUN website.
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CAMPUS HEARINGS COULD SOON BE MANDATORY What to know about the process and issues at stake. By Gillian Moran-Perez / Illustration by Joelena Despard A new wave of regulations on sexual harassment was proposed by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos under the Department of Education in November of 2018, where many of the rules will clarify and reinforce Title IX policies across college campuses. The goals of these regulations are to ensure a fair process, increase control for the complainants and establish clarity for campuses to follow their legal obligations to the student during the process. The most notable changes proposed by DeVos is implementing due process protection for the accused, a response to outcries of students who said they received no fair due process from sexual misconduct or assault accusations. This new protection will allow the campus to conduct a live hearing between both parties, presume the accused innocent while the burden of proof falls on the school, the opportunity to cross-examine the parties and witnesses, provide the accused a written notice of allegations, and grant an equal opportunity to appeal. The regulations remain disputed across the country as not all college campuses have yet to implement these proposals. The CSU system, however, has gone under amended procedures that adopts the due process protection by instituting
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live hearing, under Executive Order 1097. A court ruling under John Doe v. University of Southern California directed the CSU system into implementing new regulations. In Doe v. USC, a USC student appealed to the court against his expulsion from the university after being acquitted for “unauthorized alcohol use, sexual misconduct and rape of another student.” The court found the student was not given a fair hearing where the three essential witnesses were not interviewed and that the campus did not complete a thorough investigation by requesting the complainant to provide her clothes or her consent to release her medical records. Barret Morris, Title IX Coordinator at CSUN, said that although the CSU has entered the court ruling system, the live hearing process has its cons. “The live hearings process could retraumatize the person who already had to tell the person to the investigator,” said Morris. He says that the investigation process is very sensitive and could retraumatize the witnesses and respondents as well. Though he understands the reasoning behind the new regulation under his years of expertise, his personal judgement says otherwise. Having worked as a federal investigator and for five other institutions, he was consulted to speak to the Department of Education on the proposals and voiced his opinion against the ruling. Regardless, he believes the CSU system and CSUN “goes above and beyond” in being fair and providing the least traumatizing investigation process across the country.
Another concern talked about among experts is whether students will continue to report to their Title IX office. To highlight the recent Clery Act or the Annual Safety Campus Plan of 2020 from CSUN, as of 2018 there were a total of 17 reported cases of rape, 10 on campus and seven in campus residential. The year prior had only 10 total reports. Morris believes that the numbers show that students are becoming more aware of their campus resources. “There are statistics that show that the more outreach you do the more numbers will increase, we should review that when people are reporting they understand what the resources are, how to report, and what will happen,” said Morris. “It is a good sign when people will report more, I am skeptical of schools with few to little reports.” He said in the past at other institutions, he would have people report sexual misconduct to him after going through trainings, unaware of the resources or the process. “We want them to feel very comfortable and know the resources, we want feedback because I’m new here, no one is going to hurt my feelings, I want to know any stigma, any bad encounters,” said Morris.
CITY@CSUN.EDU
TITLE IX TRAINING: DOES IT WORK? When debating the best way to provide the training, students and administrators have different opinions. By Kimberly Silverio-Bautista / Photo Illustration by Logan Bik Each year, students, faculty, staff, athletes and administrators are required by the Department of Education to take Title IX training. Students and staff at CSUN share whether the training is effective in keeping the campus safe. Title IX is a civil rights law defending people in the U.S. from being discriminated against, denied and excluded based on their sex from participating and benefiting in educational or program activities that receive federal financial assistance. According to the CSUN website, CSU Executive Order 1095 requires students to take the training, and it is administered once per academic school year. Although the training format is online, there are people on campus who feel there should be different formats offered when it comes to this important topic. Barret Morris, director of equity and Title IX Coordinator at CSUN, said there are two formats of training offered at CSUN, which are in-person and online. However, he believes that in-person training is more effective. “We know historically that in-person training is better than online training, but the California law mandates us to have training,” Morris said.
Since CSUN has a large student population, Morris feels it’s vital to have an online mechanism for students to be aware of the subject. Sapandeep Chadda, supervisor of the College of Humanities Student Resource Center/EOP, believes the online training isn’t effective, but the topic itself is important to be taught, especially when it comes to a college setting. She also points out that it needs to be more hands-on. “I think the most practical way to do a training is to put people in those scenarios,” Chadda said. CSUN student Karina Gutierrez also believes there should be changes to the training for students to be engaged. Campus events and hands-on training are some alternative ways she believes the training can be offered to the students. “They can do something on campus to make it more engaging than online. Probably have a day specifically for sexual assault,” she said. If students still have a hold on their account, they are able to access the online training by logging into their CSUN portal. Beneath the home tab, the My Checklist box will appear and will show whether the student has a hold and needs to complete the training online.
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SEXUAL ASSAULT AND LITERATURE Story by Deja Magee / Photography by Logan Bik
Sexual assault is a difficult topic to discuss and an even harder topic to discuss in terms of recounting an experience on paper. Sometimes the words writers put down capture the essence of their traumatic encounters so well they evoke a cathartic reaction from readers. This is a collection of six books that truly capture and tackle the real world issues of sexual assault and abuse that plague women on a daily basis.
BLOOD WATER PAINT by Joy McCullough
“Blood Water Paint” is a period piece set in early 17th century Rome that follows the story of real-life historical figure 17-yearold Artemisia Gentileschi. Her father is a not-so-great Renaissance painter and she completes the paintings that he will never finish. However, in a society that is centrally maledriven, Artemisia is a great painter who gets no credit. One day, when her father hires Agostino Tassi to teach the young girl about perspective, he seduces her and rapes her. After the traumatic experience, she is faced with the choice of either living in silence or living in her own truth, no matter what the consequences are.
THE FALL OF INNOCENCE by Jenny Torres Sanchez
In a story about the lasting impact of assault, Jenny Sanchez writes about the story of Emilia DeJesus, a 16-year-old girl who has tried her best to move on from being sexually assaulted in the woods behind her elementary school eight years prior. It isn’t until, one day, there’s a discovery of who her attacker is that she finally has to come to terms about what happened to her.
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SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson
“Speak” is a trauma novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson in 1999. The novel tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman who called the police while she was at an end of the summer party. However, because she won’t tell anyone about what happened that night, she is, in turn, ostracized by everyone in her class. She soon stops talking altogether, with the only way of articulating what happened being the art she creates in her art class. This story was developed from Anderson’s own experience and trauma with being raped as a teenager.
THE NOWHERE GIRLS by Amy Lynn Reed
A 2017 novel about three outcasted girls who try and avenge a local girl who was raped and then run out of town by the citizens, and through the story, make a change in their town’s misogynistic culture and transform the lives of their peers around them. The story follows friends Grace Salter, Rosina Suarez, and Erin Delillo in this relevant young adult drama.
GOOD AND GONE by Megan Frazer Blakemore
“Good and Gone” follows the gripping story of Lexi Green, a teenager that goes on the road with her brother Charlie to find a musician that he idolizes. While on the road, Lexi finally takes the time to see what her shortwinded romance with her ex-boyfriend Seth actually was: a toxic relationship where she was manipulated, isolated and raped. As the road trip progresses, each of the teens uncover the darkest secrets that they keep within them.
THINGS WE HAVEN’T SAID: SEXUAL VIOLENCE SURVIORS SPEAK OUT by Erin E. Moulton
“Things We Haven’t Said” is a collection of essays, letters, poems, interviews, etc. depicting sexual assault between adults who have had tramautic encounters as young teens and children. It’s an anthology that tries to tackle the triggering topic of sexual abuse in a way that can engage readers and make them critcially think about these distinct situations.
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