rape

Grace is a survivor who has something to ask of you: she's asking you not to spend time with people who have abused me or any other survivor you know. And she's also telling you quite a lot about why.

Hey there, lost. I'm so sorry that you had to experience that abuse, but I'm very glad you survived it, and have started to be able to look towards healthy, wanted intimacy in your future. Let's see if I can help get you started. First, I want to alleviate a fear that could get in your way. You don...

I know that isn’t news to anyone, but I think we forget that sometimes when trying to help our friends or family members who are going through it. We expect them to act “rationally,” like we would, or like we want them to. But sexual assault is traumatic, and making decisions during and after trauma is complicated. Decisions about who to talk to - the police, a healthcare provider, a friend, a teacher - can feel incredibly complicated. Are they going to believe me? Are they going to listen to me? Are they going to call the police even though I don’t want that? What is going to happen next?

What is sexual harassment likely to look like in your life, or the lives of your friends? And what can you actually do about it, whether you’re the target of it, trying to avoid harming people yourself, or you’re the friend of someone who’s being harassed at work?

First off, I'm sorry to hear about your sexual assault. If it helps to hear this, having a strong fear of pregnancy after a sexual assault isn't unusual, especially when someone is feeling shame over it or worrying that they caused or deserved it in some way. Pregnancy can feel like an inevitable...

How do you support a teen as they recover from sexual assault?

The charts below are excerpts from the far larger, ongoing Multigenerational Experiences With and Attitudes About Casual Sex Survey I have been collecting responses to since 2010. The data below reflects responses given as of 6/8/2014. It is a broad, international survey, with the age of respondents...

This doesn't just go both ways, it goes -- it needs to go -- ALL the ways. For everybody. Always. I really appreciate you asking about this. It's something we remind people about often, both on the site and in our social media, but I feel like we can't talk about this enough or provide enough...

I'm really glad you want to tell someone, because I think it's really important that you do for her safety. Even if her parents are divorcing, chances are good her father or stepfather will get some sort of unsupervised visitation if there's no record or knowledge of abuse, so her abuse may not...

This question comes up for a lot of people. In the past couple of weeks, I think I've talked to three or four different people about this issue, so I'm really glad you've asked this here, as it's clearly important to you and to many others. It sounds like the journey you've taken to the point of...